Indonesia tsunami - live: Hundreds dead amid desperate search for missing, as survivors describe horror

'I was afraid I would die'

Indonesia tsunami: Horrifying moment deadly waves wipe out stage as band play

A tsunami in Indonesia has killed at least 222 people and injured hundreds, following an underwater landslide caused by the eruption of island volcano Krakatoa.

Hundreds of buildings were “heavily damaged” when the tsunami struck the Sunda Strait and the nearby islands of Java and Sumatra late on Saturday. Thousands fled after the wave hit and it is unclear how many residents are missing.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said that the tsunami was exacerbated by an abnormally high tide, caused by the full moon. A tide warning remains in place through 25 December.

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Key Points

• Tsunami sweeps away boyband concert, killing bassist and manager
• 222 dead after 20m wave hits islands
• Rescue workers unable to reach affected areas

[23 December 2018 12:12 · Zamira Rahim]

The tsunami's wall of water destroyed 556 homes, Indonesia's disaster agency has said.

Infrastructure in coastal areas around the Sunda Strait has been left devastated in the aftermath.

350 ships have also been damaged, agency spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

[23 December 2018 12:22 · Zamira Rahim]

A survivor receives medical treatment at a hospital in Carita (AFP/Getty) 

[23 December 2018 12:42 · Zamira Rahim]

The timing of the tsunami, over the Christmas holiday season, has evoked memories of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami triggered by an earthquake on 26 December in 2004.

It killed 226,000 people in 14 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.

The country is particularly susceptible to earthquakes and tsunamis because of its precarious position in the 'Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines and volcanoes that circle the Pacific Basin.

[23 December 2018 12:58 · Zamira Rahim]

The volcanic eruption that caused the tsunami also created a column of volcanic ash, that shot up to 500m high over the Sunda Strait.

Krakatoa, an island volcano, has been spewing lava and smoke at regular intervals since July.

Residents in Indonesia did not feel any warning tremors before the disaster struck as the tsunami was caused by an eruption and not an earthquake.

Such tsunamis are extremely rare.

[23 December 2018 13:11 · Zamira Rahim]

Aerial photos taken above Carita's beaches show the devastation suffered by popular tourist towns in Java.

The beaches are strewn with debris from thatch-bamboo shacks. Indonesia's disaster agency has warned evacuees to stay away from the coast.

AFP/Getty 

[23 December 2018 13:20 · Zamira Rahim]

Indonesian boyband Seventeen has released a statement about the horrific moment their concert stage was swept away by the tsunami.

"The water washed away the stage which was located very close to the sea," the band said.

"The water rose and dragged away everyone at the location. We have lost loved ones, including our bassist and manager ... and others are missing."

Read more here:

[23 December 2018 13:39 · Zamira Rahim]

Survivors who attended a beach concert that was devastated by the tsunami are being treated at clinics nearby.

Many are unable to return to Jakarta, where they had travelled from, because debris from the disaster has blocked roads to the city.

"We were shocked because a lot of the people who went there took their families," Yulia Dian, a manager for Seventeen, the band playing at the concert, said.

"They'd been sharing stories they were having fun at the beach and we didn't expect this."

[23 December 2018 13:51 · Zamira Rahim]

Rescuers search for survivors in south Sumatra 

[23 December 2018 14:09 · Zamira Rahim]

Indonesia's disaster management agency has said that there was no warning given for the tsunami because it was caused by a volcano.

Spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that the country only had a warning system for tsunamis caused by earthquakes.

Tsunamis triggered by volcanic eruptions are exceptionally rare.

[23 December 2018 14:32 · Zamira Rahim]

Rescuers in Lampung spent Saturday searching through the rubble in one of the worst hit parts of South Sumatra.

At least 35 people in the area were found dead.

Hundreds of survivors in the city have taken refuge in the governor's office.