Indonesia tsunami: Death toll rises to 429, search for survivors continues

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The death toll from a volcano-triggered tsunami that struck beaches around the Sunda Strait in Indonesia on Saturday night has risen to 429, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesperson for Indonesia's national disaster agency, told media on Tuesday.
Authorities said that the tsunami, which took place at 9:27 p.m. local time (1427 GMT), may have been triggered by an undersea landslide resulting from volcanic activity on Anak Krakatau and was exacerbated by an abnormally high tide because of the current full moon.
The Sunda Strait, between the islands of Java and Sumatra, connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean.
Indonesia's disaster agency initially said there was no tsunami threat at all, but was later forced to issue a correction and an apology as it pointed to a lack of early warning systems for the high death toll.
"The lack of an early tsunami warning system resulted in heavy casualties because people did not have the time to evacuate," said the agency spokesperson on Monday.
Meanwhile, rescuers used heavy machinery, sniffer dogs, and special cameras to detect and dig bodies out of mud and wreckage as hopes of finding more survivors dwindled.
The tsunami was Indonesia's third major natural disaster in six months after a series of powerful earthquakes hit the island of Lombok in July and August. In late September, another earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Palu on the island of Sulawesi, leaving over 2,000 dead.

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