A powerful earthquake sent a two-metre-high tsunami crashing into a beach resort on Indonesia's Java island Monday, damaging hotels and sending boats smashing into houses, a witness told a local radio station. People fled to a local hill to escape the wave on Pangandaran beach in west Java, a woman identified as Teti told el-Shinta radio station. “All the houses are destroyed along the beach,” she said. At least three people were killed, witnesses said.The earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 hit at 3:24 p.m. local time and caused tall buildings to sway in the Indonesian capital and at least one other city on Java Island for around two minutes, witnesses said. A strong magnitude 6.1 aftershock later shook the southern coast of Java, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The Japanese and Pacific tsunami warning centres did not give the depth of the quake, but local media reports quoting Indonesian officials said it was more than 30 kilometres below the ocean floor.