Tsunami Hits Southern Coast of West Java

Jakarta, AP -- A powerful earthquake sent a two-meter high tsunami crashing into a beach resort on Indonesia's Java island Monday, killing at least five people and causing extensive damage to hotels, restaurants and homes, the president and witnesses said.

People fled to a local hill to escape the wave on Pangandaran beach in west Java, a woman who identified herself as Teti told el-Shinta radio station.

''All the houses are destroyed along the beach, she said, adding that she saw at least three corpses laying amid the debris. Small hotels are completely destroyed and at least one restaurant was washed away.''

The tsunami followed a 7.2-magnitude quake that struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean 240 kilometers southwest of Java's western coast at 3:24 p.m., causing tall buildings to sway as far off as the capital, Jakarta.

It was followed by a 6.1-magnitude aftershock two hours later.

Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said he had heard reports about a tsunami striking two seaside towns, and urged people living on Java's southern coast to move inland in an orderly fashion.

''Everyone should move from the beach,'' he told el-Shinta.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency said almost immediately after the quake that it had the potential to trigger a destructive tsunami on coastlines along Java, Sumatra and Lesser Sunda islands in Indonesia.

Cocos and Christmas islands in Australia were also seen as at risk, but tourism officials there said nearly an hour after the quake that they had not felt anything and were unaware of a tsumami.

''I think we're OK,'' said Asma Jim of the Cocos Island Tourism Association. ''It's a very small island, and I didn't even know there had been a quake.''

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

A massive 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed at least 216,000 people - nearly half of them in Indonesia's Aceh province.

On May 27, a magnitude-5.9 earthquake devastated a large swath of Java Island, killing more than 5,800 people. ***