2006年VOA标准英语-Death Toll From Java Tsunami Rises

By Chad Bouchard
Jakarta
18 July 2006

At least 320 people are dead, hundreds are injured and nearly 3,000 have been left homeless by the tsunami¹ that battered² the Indonesian island of Java Monday. Aid agencies are assessing damage from the powerful wave, which destroyed buildings and lives along a 160-kilometer stretch of the island's southwestern coast.

--------

Indonesians look inside a body bag as they search for missing relatives in Pangandaran, West Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, July 18, 2006  
  
Hundreds of police and military rescue workers were looking for survivors³ Tuesday as the scale of Indonesia's latest natural disaster unfolds.

Red Cross Indonesia spokesman Hadi Kuswoyo says a full-scale relief operation is underway in West Java, and the organization is preparing to send still more supplies.

"We are just waiting for the latest information from the field, and we have already prepared a tarpaulin⁴ and family tent for two thousand families," he said.

Local emergency coordinators report at least 23,000 people have evacuated⁵ Pangandaran Beach, which is believed to be the hardest-hit area. Seventeen aftershocks had been registered by daybreak Tuesday, two of them above 6.0 in magnitude.

Indonesian and international aid organizations are surveying the wreckage⁶ caused by the tsunami, which pummeled coastal⁷ villages and beach resorts on Monday afternoon.

The head of the United Nations emergency relief office in Indonesia, Abdul Haq Amiri, says aid workers from the Indonesian Red Cross, the U.N., Oxfam and other aid organizations traveled all night to get to the affected⁸ villages. He says the rescuers had to deal with damaged roads and power outages that have hindered access to the affected area.

"Because of the presence of the international organizations in Yogyakarta, which is closest to that area, and because that we have unfortunately developed a lot of experience and capacity in Indonesia in dealing⁹ with disaster, this time we were much better and quicker in responding to this," said Amiri.

Indonesia is still recovering from the 5.9 magnitude quake that struck the Yogyakarta area in Central Java in May, killing¹⁰ more than 5,700 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

The country began planning for a tsunami warning system after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 150,000 people in the country's Aceh province and more than 200,000 throughout the region.

But the warning system is still in its early phases, and Java, where yesterday's tsunami struck, does not yet have elements of the system in place. The full system is not scheduled to be completed until 2009.

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 tarpaulin   

n.涂油防水布，防水衣，防水帽

参考例句：

• The pool furniture was folded,stacked,and covered with a tarpaulin.游泳池的设备都已经折叠起来，堆在那里，还盖上了防水布。
• The pool furniture was folded,stacked,and covered with a tarpaulin.游泳池的设备都已经折叠起来，堆在那里，还盖上了防水布。

5 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

6 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

7 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。