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Toll rises to 525 in Java tsunami disaster

Java - 38,000 displaced by tsunami
Java - 38,000 displaced by tsunami

At least 525 people are now known to have died in the tsunami that struck the southern coast of the Indonesian island of Java on Monday.

At least 382 people were injured and another 273 remain missing, according to the country's disaster management co-ordination agency.

About 38,000 others have been displaced by the disaster.

Heavy lifting equipment has been brought in to help in the search for bodies under the rubble along parts of the 300km stretch of south Java's coastline. The tsunami flattened homes and flooded rice fields up to 500m from the sea.

The wave was triggered by a 7.7-magnitude undersea earthquake off the Indonesian coast.

Four strong aftershocks have since hit the area as thousands spent another night on mosque floors or under makeshift shelters.

As many as 54,000 people have been displaced by the disaster, adding to a crisis caused by an earthquake that killed more than 5,700 people in central Java two months ago.

The 3m tsunami hit the densely-populated south coast of Java island, sparking memories of the 2004 catastrophe that left 220,000 people dead across Asia, 168,000 of them in Indonesia's Aceh province.

No tsunami warning system was set up for the southern coast of Java after the 2004 tsunami as the area was considered less at risk than other parts of Indonesia.

The UN's World Food Programme has said that truck loads of aid has begun to arrive in the region, while the Indonesian Health Ministry said it had sent 20 tonnes of medical supplies and food.