Massive waves pound beaches in Bali, Java

The Jakarta Post, Bandung, Yogyakarta

Massive waves have pounded Indonesia's coastlines since Thursday destroying fishing boats and shacks and creating widespread panic in Bali where thousands of tourists are holidaying for the long weekend, Reuters said Friday.

The weather pattern is unusual and not in-line with annual forecasts, officials said. No casualties have been recorded to-date.

Parts of the southern coast of Java island and Sukabumi area in West Java have been affected by water coming into villages and forcing residents to evacuate.

Weather officials have warned fishermen against sailing off southern Java and authorities have forbidden people from surfing at Kuta beach until the weather subsides.

Some officials and media reports have referred to the weather phenomenon as a regular set of tidal waves that have been exaggerated because the moon is in line with the sun, Reuters said.

Waves as high as four and five meters have struck Bali's Jimbaran resort area, destroying more than 100 fishing boats and forcing the popular restaurant strip to be evacuated.

At Kuta beach in Bali, three- and four-meter-high waves also forced tourists to desert the area.

The Water Tourism Safety Agency office in Bali asked its workers on Friday to take special preventive measures because the waves were expected to continue into Sunday.

"We are working hard. We have fielded 80 workers to keep tourists from coming to the beach," Bali's water safety agency coordinator I Made Suparka told Antara.

"Many of the workers will keep their eyes on tourists using 12 towers along the 20-km Bali beach."

The guards have also asked vendors selling food, beverages and handicrafts to abandon the beaches and avoid the dangerous waves.

Bali Police spokesman Sr. Comr. AS Reniban told marine tourism operators and all fishermen to stay out of sea.

On Friday the waves destroyed fishing houses on Kedongan and Jimbaran beaches in Bali, as well as other houses and food stalls in the popular Pangandaran beach in Ciamis, West Java.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Bandung, West Java has asked tourists spending the long weekend in the area to avoid beaches.

Agency head Hendri Subakti said the tidal waves might reach as far as 100 meters inland and would continue for the next three days.

The tides have struck West Java southern coastal areas, from Sukabumi to Pangandaran, damaging hundreds of food stalls, kiosks and houses.

Much damage has been recorded at Pelabuhan Ratu beach in Sukabumi.

Hendri said hundreds of kiosks on the beach, which is located 160 km from Bandung, were swept away by the four-meter-high waves.

"We have asked tourists and fishermen to abandon the sea to avoid casualties," Hendri said.

"This is dangerous because we had no indication the waves would strike."

Hendri however offered another explanation for the tidal waves. He said they were a natural phenomenon and an accumulation of monsoon weather near the Indian Ocean adjacent to Australia.

He said the wind associated with the weather had reached speeds of 25 knots per hour.

Nana Sukarna of the Sukabumi regency disaster mitigation coordination unit said 61 houses and food stalls in Pelabuhan Ratu beach had been swept away by the tides.

"Currently, hundreds of families have been evacuated to the representative office of Pelabuhan Ratu regent," Nana said.

In southern Garut, the tides have damaged 13 houses, according to Garut Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Eko Budi Sampurno.

"The sea suddenly rose and reached 100 meters inland," he said.

In Yogyakarta's Samas beach, two-meter-high waves have destroyed more than 10 houses and food stalls, as well as damaging approximately 60 fishing boats.

Head of Yogyakarta's Samas beach fishermen association, Rudjito, told The Jakarta Post on Friday the waves had made people panic.

"There were no strong winds or any storm -- but suddenly the waves struck.

"This kind of phenomenon is the first I've experienced ever. Nature is no longer friendly," he said.

Violent waves have also made tourists abandon West Sumatra's busy beach in Padang since Thursday, with the seawater flooding roads located 10 meters away from the beach.

-- Syofiardi Bachyul Jb. contributed to the story from Padang, West Sumatra