Around 80 of people have died after a strong earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Java set off a tsunami. The huge wave washed away buildings at the beach resort of Pangandaran, about 270 kilometres south of the capital Jakarta.

Indonesia president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that emergency response systems were in place and the main priority was to evacuate people in danger areas because there had been at least five aftershocks. A tsunami warning was issued for Java’s southern coast after the tremor which measured 7.2 in magnitude.

In 2004, nearly 230,000 people died in South East Asia in a massive tsunami and in May this year a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit near the city of Yogyakarta in Java, killing more than 5,800 people.

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