This number is to be assumed, after rescuers had gradually penetrated into previously barely accessible areas of the affected coastal regions on Sumatra and Java, it was said by the authorities. As before, residents from the disaster area would be brought to safety, for example, from the island of Sebesi in the Sunda Strait, which is only 19 kilometers away from Anak Krakatau.
Due to an eruption of the volcano, part of the crater wall had slipped into the sea on the evening of December 22nd. The resulting tsunami hit the shores of Sumatra and Java without warning. The authorities slightly reduced the death toll to 426. In the identification some dead were counted twice, said the spokesman for the civil protection authority, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. More than 7200 people were injured, 23 people were still missing.
The tsunami hit the province of Banten in Java with its beach resorts popular with Indonesians, as well as the province of Lampung on the western island of Sumatra.
With its continued activity, Anak Krakatau kept people on alert. On Friday, he pushed hot ash columns in the sky, but the wind was blowing mainly to the southwest on the Indian Ocean. The authorities imposed the second highest warning level on Thursday, extending the no-fly zone around the crater to a five-kilometer radius. The communities on the shores called on their residents to keep up to a kilometer away from the sea, as with the continuing eruptions of Anak Krakatau there is also the danger of further tsunamis.
Rescuers continued evacuation of Sebesi Island near the volcano. Before the tsunami officially 2814 people lived on the island, around 1600 were already brought to the mainland to Lampung Selatan in Sumatra, said Nugroho. The remaining inhabitants should follow.
The Southeast Asian island state of Indonesia is located on the „Pacific Ring of Fire“, the geologically most active zone on earth. Only on Friday had a quake of magnitude 6.1 shook West Papua province in the east of the country. There were no reports of injuries and damage there.
