Earthquake, crash and tsunami: 2018, a disastrous year for Indonesians
The tsunami that reached the beaches around the Sunda Strait is the last of a series of disasters that hit Indonesia last year. The country received a fatal earthquake and an air disaster earlier this year.
On June 18 an overloaded ferry was sunk on Lake Toba on the island of Sumatra. There were about 164 people on board. The boat struck during a storm. Nobody survived the capsizing. On 3 July, the authorities decided to stop the search for the victims. Just on that day, fate struck again: a ferry boat with 139 people sank off the coast of the island of Sulawesi. In addition, 34 people died.
Earthquake hits Lombok
In July, the tourist island of Lombok was confronted with an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4. In addition, 17 people lost their lives. But on 5 August the island was hit by an even heavier quake (6.9 on the Richter scale). Hundreds of people have died. Also, in the days and weeks after following several heavy aftershocks. So, the death toll eventually rose to 564.
Earthquake and tsunami destroy Sulawesi
On 28 September, the island of Sulawesi was hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5. A tsunami followed. The town of Palu was almost completely wiped off the map. Another 170 aftershocks followed, which made the rescue operations more difficult. Officially, 2,256 deaths occurred, but there are still more than 1,000 missing people. Some 10,600 people were injured.
A few days later, a volcano erupted on the island. The 1,800-meter-high Soputan spewed ash and smelled about four kilometres in the air. There were no casualties.
Plane crashes into Java sea
On October 29, Lion Air flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea. The aircraft was on its way from Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia located on the island of Java, to Pangkal Pinang, located on the island of Bangka. A few minutes after the plane had taken off, it was in trouble. It crashed with 189 people on board. There were no survivors.
A week later, the families of the occupants were taken to the place where the aircraft was dumped into the sea.
