Rain hinders Indonesia search; volcano presents ongoing tsunami threat

Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Indonesian officials cautioned Wednesday the ongoing eruption of Anak Krakatau could trigger a second tsunami -- after the first killed more than 400 people.

Dwikorita Karawati, head of Indonesia's Meteorology, Geophysics and Climatology Agency, said federal workers were investigating the eruptions and high waves and heavy rain were possible.

"All these conditions could potentially cause landslides at the cliffs of the crater into the sea, and we fear that that could trigger a tsunami," Karawati told reporters.

Indonesian officials said Wednesday the death toll from the first increased to 430, with about 1,500 injured and another 159 missing. The National Disaster Management Agency said more than 20,000 people have been moved to secure locations.

A new eruption at the Anak Krakatu volcano Tuesday panicked residents and led some to flee coastline villages near the mountain, Singapore's The Straits Times reported.

Heavy rains have pounded the region to complicate search efforts and prevent help from reaching isolated villages and evacuation shelters.

"There are six villages that we haven't been able to enter yet because the roads, bridges are badly damaged,'' Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the Southeast Asian country's disaster mitigation agency, told reporters Tuesday. "The road was actually in bad condition even before the tsunami.''

Nugroho said previously Indonesia's tsunami warning system hasn't worked for years because of vandalism and technical problems.

Wednesday marked the 14th anniversary of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 220,000 in 14 countries, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. That tsunami, which generated waves up to 100 feet high, was triggered by a 9.2 magnitude earthquake off the western coast of Northern Sumatra.