Indonesia instructs flights to steer clear of erupting volcano

'No preparations'

The disaster struck without warning, taking people by surprise in a country that regularly suffers landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. No earthquake shook the ground beforehand, and the waves surged inland at night on a holiday weekend while people were enjoying concerts and other beach and resort activities.

Heavy rains and high seas have hampered the search and effort. Some bodies were found at sea and at least 159 are missing.

Radar data from satellites, converted into images, shows the Anak Krakatau volcano is dramatically smaller following Saturday's eruption.

Satellite photos aren't available because of cloud cover but radar images from a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency satellite taken before and after the eruption show the volcano's southwestern flank has disappeared.

Dave Petley, head of research and innovation at Sheffield University who analyzed similar images from a European Space Agency satellite, said they support the theory that a landslide, most of it undersea, caused the tsunami.

"The challenge now is to interpret what might be happening on the volcano, and what might happen next," he wrote in a blog.

Indonesia is a vast archipelago that sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire". This year, the country has suffered its worst annual death toll from disasters in more than a decade.

The latest tsunami disaster, coming during the Christmas season, evoked memories of the Indian Ocean tsunami triggered by an earthquake on Dec 26, 2004, which killed 226,000 people in 14 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.

Tsunami warning systems were set up after 2004 but they have failed to prevent subsequent disasters, often because equipment has not been maintained properly, while public education and disaster preparation efforts have been patchy at best.

Ramdi Tualfredi, a teacher in the village of Cigondong, on Java's West Coast, said he had never received any instructions on safety steps and efforts to prepare communities for a tsunami had "totally failed".

"There were no preparations. I didn't get information from anywhere," he said, adding there had been little help for residents since the disaster struck.

Reuters - AP