The earthquake-triggered tsunami that swept through the southern coasts of Indonesia's Java island earlier this week has inflicted huge economic losses to local residents, who earn income mainly from fishing and tourism- related businesses.

In Ciamis regency, which bore the brunt of Monday's disaster, the tsunami has inflicted a 425 billion rupiah (46.2 million U.S. dollars) loss in infrastructure damages, an official said Thursday.

The famous Pangandaran resort beach shoulders about 80 percent of the loss, said Ciamis regency secretary Subur Dwiono.

"The tsunami has devastated resort beaches and much bigger losses will result from the collapse of tourism business," he told reporters in Ciamis regency, some 250 km southeast of Jakarta.

"After the emergency period expires, we will do our utmost to recover the Pangandaran resort, maybe in two years, to turn tourism business back to normal again," he said.

The Pangandaran beach has been abandoned since the disaster that swept away hotels, restaurants and shops.

"I was lucky because all my family members survived the tsunami. But I lost my shop and even if I afford to rebuild one, I don't think business will be the same again," said Ujang, who used to own a handicraft shop at Pangandaran.

"Fewer people will visit this beach in the near future, I'm sure about that," he said.

Pangandaran is among the country's most popular resorts for surfing and sunbathing.

The damages caused by the tsunami stretched 180 km from Garut in West Java province to Cilacap in Central Java.

The Indonesian Fishermen Association has estimated fish output in the affected areas will fall by 10 percent, but no figure was made available.

In nearby Kebumen regency, financial loss from tsunami is estimated at 27 billion rupiah (2.9 million dollars).

The Ministry of Maritime and Fishery on Thursday proposed an assistance fund of 428 billion rupiah (46.5 million dollars) to help fishermen in the affected areas deal with tsunami impacts.

The ministry said in a statement the fishery sector suffers a loss of 47 billion rupiah (5.1 million dollars) from the tsunami, which destroyed more than 2,200 fishing ships.

Meanwhile, state-owned electricity company PLN claimed a loss of 2.5 billion rupiah (271,739 dollars) as tsunami destroyed 78 power transmission units in Pangandaran.

The Detikcom news website reported dozens of salted fish and red sugar industries collapsed after the disaster, leaving hundreds of small-scale entrepreneurs jobless.

Source: Xinhua