The death toll following a devastating tsunami believed to have been caused by the Anak Krakatau volcano in Indonesia has doubled to at least 429 confirmed dead, a spokesman for the disaster mitigation agency said Tuesday.
More than 1,400 people were injured, officials said.
The tsunami that struck Saturday night is believed to have been prompted by undersea landslides caused by eruptions of the Anak Krakatau volcano, which is located in the Sunda Strait between the Indonesia islands of Java and Sumatra.
Indonesian authorities vowed to begin work on installing a new structure of buoys that would be capable of detecting tsunamis caused by undersea landslides by 2019. At one point, the area had a network of tsunami-detecting buoys, but those haven't been working since 2012, officials admitted on Monday.
“Vandalism, lack of funds, technical faults have caused the current absence of the tsunami buoy system,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the country’s National Agency for Disaster Management.
A warning system is already in place for earthquakes.
More than 150 people area still missing as of Tuesday, with officials unsure if those people will ever be found. Rescue efforts have been slow, because roads have been blocked, but heavy equipment is on the way to the worst areas to help search for victims and aid in recovery efforts.
In September, at least 832 people were killed by a devastating 7.4 earthquake and tsunami that hit the city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi, last September. Indonesia is prone to tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes due to its location on the infamous Pacific "Ring of Fire," which is an arc of volcanoes and fault lines that make it up.
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