The volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 281 people dead and more than 1,000 people injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia’s Sunda Strait, officials yesterday, voicing fears that the toll would rise further.
Hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the wave, which hit the coast of southern Sumatra and the western tip of Java about 9:30 pm (1430 GMT) on Saturday after a volcano known as the “child” of Krakatoa erupted.
“The number of victims and damage will continue to rise,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said earlier today (Dec 24), as the desperate search for survivors ramped up. (See story here.)
In response, the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department of Thailand has relayed a post by the state news agency National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) calling for reports of any persons believed to have been directly affected by the tsunami but not yet accounted for.
The post urged people to inform the Royal Thai Embassy in Jakarta urgently at +62 811 186253 (24 hours).
As of late yesterday (Dec 23), no Thais were reported as missing or killed in the Sunda Strait tsunami, the NNT report noted.
Any Thais looking to travel to the disaster area to help provide urgent assistance were urged to register through the Royal Thai Embassy Jakarta Facebook page. (Click here.)
An official form has been created to notify the embassy of wanting to travel to the disaster area to provide assistance. (Click here for the form.)
“All persons wanting to travel to the affected area will be provided assistance in order to arrive as quickly as possible,” the official form states.