Catastrophe Central

From terrorism to landslides to the December 26, 2004 tsunami that claimed 132,000 Indonesians, the island nation has lately been plagued by one catastrophe after another.

Now tragedy has struck again. Yesterday, a tsunami claimed more than 100 lives in Indonesian Java. NASA's Earth Observatory relayed the following from News@Nature.com:

Java received an alert from the newly installed tsunami early warning system, and this might have saved some lives. Other news sources speculated that memories of the severe tsunami on December 26, 2004, might have spurred locals to seek higher ground as soon as they felt the first tremor.

Updated reports, however, say that while the Indonesian government received warnings from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and Japan's Meteorological Agency, the warnings were not passed along. Even if they had been, there is no system of alarms or sirens in place to warn residents and tourists. Survivors say they did not feel the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that triggered the tsunami.