Monday, October 1, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Five Traders Arrested in Currency Manipulation Crackdown

Posted: 01 Oct 2018 08:51 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW – The Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI) has detained five currency and gold dealers in Yangon as part of its ongoing investigation into alleged currency manipulation, the agency said Monday.

The suspects will face legal action, according to officials at the bureau, which is under the supervision of the Home Affairs Ministry.

The BSI has been investigating the detainees and will open legal cases against them soon, its director-general, U Maung Maung Kyaw, told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

"They were trying to manipulate the market by making 'hollow' transactions [making verbal agreements to buy without actually paying] at their shops in Shwe Bon Thar [Street in Yangon]," U Maung Maung Kyaw said. "They were following orders from their superiors."

Lawsuits will be filed against the detainees under Article 38 (currency trading without a license) of the Foreign Exchange Management Law at the Pabedan, Kyauktada and Pazuntaung township police stations in Yangon, he said.

"Initially, one person was at large, but he surrendered himself to authorities on Monday afternoon," said U Aung Myo, director of the BSI's Naypyitaw office. He declined to reveal the detainees' names, saying they would be identified once formal prosecution had begun.

The bureau is investigating more than 10 people who allegedly manipulated the gold and dollar markets, and has so far fingered five as having violated the regulations. The investigation is ongoing, U Aung Myo told The Irrawaddy.

Conviction under Article 38 of the Foreign Exchange Management Law carries a maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment, a fine and confiscation of assets.

The prices of the dollar and gold skyrocketed in kyat terms in September, surpassing 1,600 kyats in the third week of the month. As a result, consumers have also seen prices of necessities such as food, petrol, medicines and transportation climb sharply.

President's Office spokesperson U Zaw Htay said at a press conference in Naypyitaw on Sept. 24 that a handful of currency dealers were manipulating the market through "hollow greenback transactions" and that the government was investigating and would take action. Because they involve verbal agreements without payment, financial authorities view such deals as being similar in nature to no-interest credit transactions.

The day after U Zaw Htay's announcement, the BSI arrested the five suspects and the illegal "hollow" trading in dollars and gold stopped.

U Win Myint, the secretary of Yangon Region's Myanmar Gold Entrepreneurs Association, said, "The gold price has fallen to 976,500 kyats per tical, and the market has revived since the dollar manipulators were arrested. We have been able to allow the gold market to remain open."

On Monday, the kyat rose slightly, trading at over 1,500 per USD, compared to 1,600 last month.

Market observers predict the currency will continue to strengthen as the illegal currency trading has been stamped out and legal moneychangers and banks are trading the foreign currency at the rate set by the Central Bank of Myanmar.

Nyein Nyein contributed to this report. 

The post Five Traders Arrested in Currency Manipulation Crackdown appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

TNLA, Tatmadaw Engage in Two Days of Clashes Near Muse

Posted: 01 Oct 2018 06:16 AM PDT

Fighting broke out between the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) in Muse and Kukai townships in northern Shan State over the weekend, displacing around 200 people, according to local sources.

The fighting erupted after Tatmadaw troops tried to apprehend TNLA soldiers who were reportedly demanding money from drivers on the Muse-Lashio highway.

The TNLA reported multiple clashes on Sept. 29 in the Kung Hka, Nam Paw, Man Peng and Num Um areas of Muse Township.

The longest clash, in an area between Kung Hka and Num Um villages, lasted from 8:30 a.m. to 2:10 p.m. on Sept. 29.

According to the TNLA's Brigadier-General Tar Phone Kyaw, both sides suffered causalities. "Some of our men were wounded; I do not have detailed information about the death toll on either side."

The TNLA seized some military equipment from the Myanmar Army, including M60 rifles and Army uniforms.

Another clash broke out on Sept. 30 in the Tar Moe Nyar area of Kukai Township as the Tatmadaw continued to hunt members of the TNLA.

The TNLA's demanding of money from drivers came to light after travelers on the road from Muse to Lashio posted video online showing members of the armed group stopping vehicles.

Upon learning of the activity, Myanmar Army troops set out in pursuit of the TNLA units, triggering the clashes. "The highway has been improved, making it easy for [the Tatmadaw] to reach the place where we were taxing drivers," Brig-Gen. Tar Phone Kyaw said.

About 200 residents of Man Peng village fled as the clashes neared their homes.

The IDPs took refuge in a church in Hsenwi Township. "They arrived at our church in the evening," said Hkun Gam, a religious leader.

Township authorities met the IDPs yesterday evening and told them to return as the fighting in the village had ceased. The IDPs went back to their village on Monday morning, Hkun Gam said.

The TNLA is active in northern Shan. It has not signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the Myanmar Army, though peace negotiations between the government and the ethnic armed group are ongoing.

The post TNLA, Tatmadaw Engage in Two Days of Clashes Near Muse appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Local Weekly Newspaper Charged for Satirical Article

Posted: 01 Oct 2018 06:09 AM PDT

YANGON—The Dawei Township Court charged the regional weekly Tanintharyi Journal on Monday under the Media Law for a satirical article published last year.

Daw Aye Mon Thu, the advocate representing the defendant told The Irrawaddy that the judge read out the decision, "As the [satirical] piece is believed to be aiming to undermine the dignity of the Tenasserim Regional government and thus it is charged and we have to give an explanation."

The next trial will take place on Oct. 15 and the plaintiff's witnesses will testify again.

The journal is charged under Article 25 (b) of the Media Law.

If found guilty, the charge carries a minimum fine of 300,000 kyats to a maximum 1,000,000 kyat for news stories that deliberately affect the reputation of a specific person or an organization, if not concerned with public interests and human rights.

The complaint was filed in December over a satirical piece "Electioneering Smile," which appeared under the byline "Mu Say Ooh" in the journal's Nov. 20 issue. The headline referred to an incumbent female administrator who planned to contest the election for ward and village administrators.

Following publication of the article, the regional government office deputy director filed the complaint in November last year, saying it deemed to satirize the regional chief minister Daw Lei Lei Maw and thus damaging the government's dignity.

U Myo Aung, executive director of the Tanintharyi Journal said the respective administrations and many other pillars do not thoroughly understand the nature of satirical literature, media operations or media ethics.

He added, there is a lack of mutual understanding between sectors and that has attributed to the filing of the complaint and the court case.

Although he does not want to comment on whether the court's decision is just or unjust, he said, he is concerned that the acceptance of the charge affects media freedom as well as intimidating the media.

"We believe this case does not even warrant getting sued, therefore, we will do our best to defend our [actions] within our legal rights," said U Myo Aung.

The Tanintharyi Journal appealed to the Tenasserim Regional High Court to dismiss the case on June 21, but their appeal was rejected on July 31.

The journal also sought the appeal at Naypyitaw's Supreme Court on Aug. 14 and is awaiting the decision of the court on whether they would accept the appeal or not.

The post Local Weekly Newspaper Charged for Satirical Article appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Join Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo

Posted: 01 Oct 2018 04:33 AM PDT

YANGON — State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will leave for Japan on Friday to take part in the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit to discuss ways to connect industries and improve infrastructure in the Mekong region, according to Japan Today.

The state counselor will also visit a farm in Fukushima Prefecture during the six-days trip to learn how Japan’s agriculture sector was coping with a labor shortage, a problem Myanmar is also facing.

The summit itself will take place on Oct. 8 and 9 in Tokyo, where delegates will discuss a number of regional initiatives, including the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy — led by Japan as a way to counterbalance China’s Belt and Road Initiative — and the 2019-2023 Ayeyarwady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy, according to the website of Japan’s mission to ASEAN.

A statement on the site said the leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Japan, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam will focus on making “connectivity, people and the environment” three new “pillars” of cooperation as ways to promote peace, stability and prosperity across the Mekong region.

The leaders are also expected to endorse Japan’s efforts on the Indo-Pacific Strategy, affirm the need for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, and share their views on the Mekong Region’s role as a link between the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi accepted the invitation to the summit from Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono during his visit to Myanmar in August to discuss the Rohingya crisis. During a joint press conference in Naypyitaw, the state counselor said the meeting in Tokyo would strengthen relations between the two countries. Kono said Japan would continue to help Myanmar solve its problems.

In 2013, while leader of Myanmar’s opposition, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited Japan for the first time in 27 years. She conducted research at Kyoto University from 1985 to 1986.

She last visited Japan in 2016 as state counselor. During that trip she met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss economic assistance for Myanmar and the country’s peace process.

The post Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Join Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China Facilitates Informal Meeting at UN to Expedite Refugee Repatriation Process

Posted: 01 Oct 2018 04:07 AM PDT

YANGON—During a China-facilitated informal meeting with the United Nations, Myanmar and Bangladesh, plans were made for a joint working group meeting which is to have a focus on creating a roadmap and timetable for the repatriation of the Rohingya people and to implement repatriation of the first batch of refugees as soon as possible.

The agreement was one of three made during the trilateral meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday. The meeting was attended by the Minister for the Office of the Myanmar State Counselor U Kyaw Tint Swe, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was also present, according to a statement about the meeting released by China's ministry of foreign affairs.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh since August last year following clearance operations by Myanmar security forces in the wake of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army's serial attacks on police outposts in northern Rakhine State. The Myanmar government denounced the group as a terrorist organization.

Myanmar and Bangladesh signed three bilateral agreements on the repatriation. Myanmar President's Office spokesperson U Zaw Htay said last month that more than 3,000 Rohingya would be repatriated to Myanmar soon. It would be the first batch under the bilateral repatriation program.

During the meeting, the Bangladeshi side said it is prepared to repatriate the first group of displaced persons who fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State into Bangladesh, while the Myanmar side said it is prepared to receive them. However, neither side said when it would happen.

China has encouraged both Myanmar and Bangladesh to resolve the issue properly. In June, the Chinese foreign minister had an informal meeting with the two ministers in Beijing.

Wang Yi said, according to the statement, the Chinese side is not in support of approaches that tend to complicate, worsen, or internationalize the Rakhine issue.

"The priority is to achieve the first repatriation of the people who fled from Rakhine State in Myanmar to Bangladesh. The Chinese side, as a friendly neighboring country of Myanmar and Bangladesh, is willing to continue setting up platforms for communication and consultations between Myanmar and Bangladesh, and continue providing humanitarian aid for refugees from Rakhine State for the return to their homeland," he said.

China has close relations with Myanmar, and backs what Myanmar officials called a legitimate counter-insurgency operation in Rakhine. Beijing has helped to block a resolution on the crisis at the UN Security Council. The middle kingdom is the largest foreign investor in Myanmar, which is part of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.  China has also committed to $31bn worth of projects in Bangladesh, making it the second-biggest recipient of money in south Asia behind Pakistan. They include roads, railways, coal power plants and water treatment facilities.

The post China Facilitates Informal Meeting at UN to Expedite Refugee Repatriation Process appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Long Road Ahead For Asian Drivers Revving Up to Go Electric

Posted: 30 Sep 2018 09:51 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR — When Benjamin Jacob stops his new scooter at traffic lights in Malaysia’s capital, fellow drivers sometimes flash their lights or honk their horns at him, though he has done nothing wrong.

With his silent electric motorcycle, other users of Kuala Lumpur’s congested roads wrongfully assume the 29-year-old has turned off his engine or fallen asleep at the wheel.

But the delivery driver is always alert — especially since he was picked to take part in a new electric-vehicle pilot project run by logistics giant DHL eCommerce.

When drivers beep at him or wind down their windows, Jacob lets them know he rides an electric bike that makes no sound.

Parcel delivery firm DHL eCommerce is testing electric vehicles in Malaysia and Vietnam for a year as it works towards a goal of cutting its logistics-related greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.

As well as helping companies boost their green credentials, electric vehicles ease air pollution and can reduce a country’s costly oil imports.

If the electricity that powers them is from renewable sources, they can also help meet the emissions reduction targets submitted by governments for the 2015 Paris Agreement to curb climate change.

Cities in the Asia-Pacific region have seen unprecedented growth over the last two decades. Many face air pollution crises, crippling congestion and other challenges related to mobility and infrastructure.

Tackling noise pollution is also becoming increasingly important to improve the wellbeing of residents.

The DHL project is rare in Asia, which experts say lags other regions in creating the right incentives, regulatory frameworks and infrastructure needed to make electric vehicles more attractive to both drivers and businesses.

At first, DHL wanted to pilot the project in three countries, but regulatory issues and limited availability of e-bikes in Thailand prevented it from launching there, it said.

Globally, the group hopes to replace 70 percent of all the vehicles it uses for “first and last-mile” delivery services with cleaner energy versions by 2025.

“After one year, we will see which bike does the best and how practical it is to scale up and look at more fleet joining us,” Anil Gautam, managing director for DHL eCommerce Malaysia, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Right signals

Around the world, electric and plug-in hybrid cars topped 3 million in 2017, a 54 percent jump from 2016, according to a 2018 report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).

China was the largest electric car market, accounting for half sold last year — about 580,000 cars.

Facing public health risks from increasingly polluted cities, the Chinese government has put in place clear targets for electric vehicle sales, said Nick Twork, general manager for innovation and technology communications at the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance in Paris.

China has also invested in technology and mass production to bring down costs and make electric vehicles more affordable, he added.

The United States had the second-highest number of plug-in vehicles, with about 280,000 cars sold last year, although Nordic countries lead on market share, the IEA said.

Norway was in the top slot, with electric cars making up 39 percent of new car sales.

China and Japan aside, experts said Asian governments should consult more with industry and consumers to improve policies on electric vehicles, especially as the economic advantages of switching to electric from fossil fuel vehicles are slim.

There is a need to expand infrastructure for electric vehicle charging beyond homes and work places — a key barrier to take-up of electric vehicles in the region, said Dominic Patella, a transport specialist with the World Bank in Brussels.

Governments can also provide incentives or subsidies for electric vehicle buyers — including low-cost registration — and tax breaks for sellers, experts said.

“Where this generally works is when you have close cooperation between industry and government, and there are economic incentives for both infrastructure and the purchase of vehicles,” said Twork of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.

Preferential parking and lane access are other options for cities, many of which already ban diesel vehicles from the center at busy times of day or have late-night curfews to reduce noise pollution.

Governments, meanwhile, can make it easier to import electric vehicles, and play a role in persuading public and private transport providers to go electric.

“Sometimes it takes government intervention to enable the uptake of electric mobility — and that’s where you need good policy, good programs, good investments to enable good things to take place in the transport sector,” said Patella.

Sea-change

Businesses like parcel delivery and taxi companies have an easier route to switching to electric fleets because they can track routes and busy times, and recharge during quiet periods.

Charging time for the DHL scooters is between 60 to 90 minutes for a range of about 140 km, but this differs depending on the make of motorcycle tested, weight of the load and driver, battery age and the type of charger used.

Most privately owned electric vehicles take hours to charge up, a process usually done overnight, but experts said the cost of batteries and charge times are falling fast.

Between 2016 and 2022, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi aims to cut the cost of its batteries by 30 percent, with a 15-minute charge time and an overall range of 600 km.

While electrified delivery fleets are expected to take off in other parts of the world first, Asia is a “fast follower,” given the rise in parcel delivery and freight across the region, especially from China, said Andrew Campbell, who provides technical support for the Philippines’ e-Trike Project.

The government-backed program aims to electrify and replace all the country’s rickshaw-style tuk tuks, and has rolled out about 3,000 e-trikes so far.

“Somewhere between the five and 10-year mark, we are going to see a sea-change,” said Campbell.

The post Long Road Ahead For Asian Drivers Revving Up to Go Electric appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Powerful Typhoon Kills Two, Snarls Transport For Thousands in Japan

Posted: 30 Sep 2018 09:16 PM PDT

TOKYO — A powerful typhoon brought down trees onto railroad tracks and kicked up debris across Tokyo as it brushed past the Japanese capital early on Monday, killing two people and stranding thousands as train lines were closed or severely delayed.

Typhoon Trami made landfall in western Japan on Sunday evening and threatened heavy rains, strong winds and landslides on the northern-most main island of Hokkaido, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The island was hit by a deadly earthquake last month.

The typhoon, rated by Tropical Storm Risk as a category 1, the lowest on a five-point scale, killed two people and injured almost 130, public broadcaster NHK said.

Another two people were missing, it said, and almost 400,000 households were without power.

Aerial footage on NHK showed hundreds of people waiting outside train stations, with several major commuter lines closed since Sunday. More than 230 flights were cancelled, mainly in northern Japan, NHK said.

Kansai International Airport in Osaka in western Japan said it had opened its runways as scheduled at 6 a.m., after being closed since 11 a.m. on Sunday.

The airport had only fully reopened on Sept. 21 after being heavily flooded earlier that month by Typhoon Jebi, the most powerful storm to hit Japan in 25 years.

The post Powerful Typhoon Kills Two, Snarls Transport For Thousands in Japan appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Bangladesh’s Opposition Group Says ‘Strongly’ Wants to Contest Elections

Posted: 30 Sep 2018 09:14 PM PDT

DHAKA — Bangladesh’s main opposition political group, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), “strongly” wants to take part in national elections due in three months, the party’s secretary general told Reuters on Saturday.

The BNP will hold a public meeting in the capital Dhaka on Sunday and present demands that include the release of its jailed leader Khaleda Zia, installing a neutral caretaker government, and involving the army to oversee the December elections, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said.

“As a large party, we have all the preparations for participating in (a) coming election, but for that we need a level playing field, which is not there,” he said.

“We are demanding a neutral government as it is our experience that with the ruling party there cannot be a free and fair election.”

The interview marks the first time the BNP has explicitly stated its plans for the national election, during which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League – accused of increasingly authoritarian rule – is expected to face a tough fight.

Elections in Bangladesh, which won independence in 1971, are usually marked by violence and protests, and the national polls in December are expected to be no different, as several members of the BNP including its leader are in jail.

The BNP boycotted the 2014 polls after Hasina’s governing Awami League, which has been in power since 2009, declined demands to put in place a nonpartisan caretaker government.

Bitter Rivalry

Khaleda, a two-term prime minister with whom Hasina has a long and bitter rivalry, was jailed in February for five years on corruption charges that she alleged were part of a plot to hamper her political career. Her son Tarique Rahman was also convicted and sentenced to a 10-year prison term, though he now lives in exile in London.

Dozens of other BNP members have also been sent to prison in recent years on what the party alleges were false charges.

Alamgir said a decision on who would run for Prime Minister would be taken in consultation with Khaleda and Rahman.

While Hasina has been lauded internationally for providing shelter for nearly a million Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence and persecution in Myanmar, she is facing increasing criticism over free speech.

Security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at students who took to the streets last month to demand better road safety. Several people, including students and a senior photographer Shahidul Alam, were put behind bars following the protests, sparking calls from international rights activists for their release.

Security forces have also been accused of extrajudicial killings in a war on drugs declared by Hasina, under which more than 200 people have been killed since July. Most recently, a new digital security law passed by parliament last week has come under intense criticism from journalists who say it would cripple media freedom.

The government has said its crackdown during the student protests was aimed at BNP workers who tried to provoke the students, and has denied allegations of extrajudicial killings.

It also dismisses accusations of jailing BNP workers on false charges, and Hasina has said there are no plans to modify the new digital security law.

The post Bangladesh’s Opposition Group Says 'Strongly' Wants to Contest Elections appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Indonesia Mourns as Death Toll from Quake Jumps to 832

Posted: 30 Sep 2018 09:06 PM PDT

PALU, Indonesia — The toll from an earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia soared to 832 confirmed dead on Sunday, with authorities fearing the numbers will climb as rescuers grappled to get aid to outlying communities cut off from communications and help.

Dozens of people were reported to be trapped in the rubble of several hotels and a mall in the city of Palu, on Sulawesi island, which was hit by waves as high as six meters (20 feet) following the 7.5 magnitude earthquake on Friday.

A woman was pulled alive from the debris of the city’s Roa Roa Hotel, where up to 60 people were believed trapped. Hundreds of people gathered at the wrecked eight-story Tatura Mall searching for loved ones.

“Grieve for the people of Central Sulawesi, we all grieve together,” President Joko Widodo tweeted late on Sunday.

Most of the confirmed deaths were in Palu itself, and authorities are bracing for the toll to climb as connections with outlying areas are restored.

Of particular concern is Donggala, a region of 300,000 people north of Palu and close to the epicenter of the quake, and two other districts, which has been cut off from communications since Friday.

“We haven’t received reports from the three other areas. Communication is still down,; power is still out. We don’t know for sure what is the impact,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, told a news conference.

Along with Palu, 1,500 km (930 miles) northeast of Jakarta, these districts have a combined population of about 1.4 million.

A video of the outskirts of Donggala shot on Sunday afternoon by the Indonesian Red Cross showed scenes of devastation, with houses flattened into piles of rubble and broken furniture.

Smaller aftershocks from Friday’s quake continued to rumble through the area.

Social worker Lian Gogali tweeted from the area that several villages on the west coast of Sulawesi were in desperate need of food, medicine and shelter and that road access was still limited.

Pledge to Rebuild

Five foreigners – three French, one South Korean and one Malaysian – were among the missing, Nugroho said. The 832 dead included people crushed in the quake and swept away by the tsunami.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the death toll could rise into the thousands.

Earlier President Widodo visited a housing complex flattened when the quake liquefied the soil it stood on, and called for patience.

“I know there are many problems that need to be solved in a short time, including communications,” he said. The ruins would be rebuilt, he said, as aftershocks rattled the region 48 hours after the quake.

Footage of the ruined city show a crumpled mess of houses, cars and trees mashed together by the quake, with rooftops and roads split and left at all angles.

“There are estimated to be many victims in this area. Evacuation is difficult because many collapsed houses are buried in soil,” the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s Nugroho said on Sunday evening.

Internal Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, asked about reports of looting on social media, said he had ordered authorities to help people get food and drink and businesses would be compensated. One video posted on YouTube showed people grabbing boxes of supplies from a truck.

Television pictures showed scores of residents shouting “we’re hungry, we need food” as soldiers distributed rations from a truck in one neighborhood, while footage from elsewhere showed people making off with clothes and other items from a wrecked mall.

State logistics agency chief Budi Waseso said it was preparing to send hundreds of tons of government rice stocks to Central Sulawesi areas affected by the disaster.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government had allocated 560 billion rupiah ($37.58 million) for disaster recovery, media reported.

Questions About Warnings

Indonesia, which sits on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, is all too familiar with deadly earthquakes and tsunamis. In 2004, a quake off Sumatra island triggered a tsunami across the Indian Ocean, killing 226,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.

Questions are sure to be asked why warning systems set up after that disaster appear to have failed on Friday. Nugroho, bemoaning a fall in funding, said no tsunami buoys, one type of instrument used to detect the waves, in Indonesia had been operating since 2012.

The meteorological and geophysics agency BMKG issued a tsunami warning after the quake but lifted it 34 minutes later, drawing criticism it had been too hasty. But officials estimated the waves had hit while the warning was in force.

Hundreds of people had gathered for a festival on Palu’s beach when the water surged. A disaster official said the tsunami travelled across the sea at speeds of 800 kph (500 mph).

Video on social media showed water-bearing whirls of debris rushing in as people shouted in alarm and scattered.

Palu is at the head of a bay, about 10 km long and 2 km wide, which had “amplified” the wave as it was funneled towards the city, a geophysics agency official said.

The BMKG said its closest tidal gauge sensor, about 200 km (125 miles) from Palu, had only recorded an “insignificant” 6 cm (2.5 inches) wave.

Palu’s airport was damaged in the quake, but had reopened for limited commercial flights, authorities said.

Neighbors including Australia, Thailand and China offered help and Pope Francis, speaking to thousands in St. Peter’s Square, said he was praying for the victims.

The European Union has announced 1.5 million euros ($1.74 million) in immediate aid.

Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population but also significant pockets of Christians, including on Sulawesi, which is one of the archipelago nation’s five main islands.

The post Indonesia Mourns as Death Toll from Quake Jumps to 832 appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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