"Our latest data shows 80 people have died while at least 68 are badly injured. The number can climb because many may have been swept away by the waves," Fitri Sidikah, an official at the Indonesian Red Cross disaster centre, told Reuters.

"We are going to send body bags, tents and other equipment," she said. "Around 650 fishing boats are damaged."

Waves up to 1.5 metres (five feet) high crashed into Pangandaran beach near the town of Ciamis, 270 km (170 miles) southeast of Jakarta, killing 37 people, a local official said.

"The number could grow because when we went to the shore, rescuers were trying to evacuate more bodies," Rudi Supriatna Bahro told Metro TV.

Bahro said areas up to half a kilometre (550 yards) from the beach were affected by the tsunami, with flimsily constructed buildings flattened. "We need tents, food and medical aid."

In the Pangandaran medical clinic in the early hours of Tuesday morning, several victims' bodies were laid out on the floor covered by cloth. A police officer told Reuters Television there were about 40 bodies in the clinic.

A 40-year-old Belgian tourist called Ian, who did not give a last name, said he was in a bar when suddenly water rushed in, knocking him unconscious. He woke up in the clinic, he said.

Indonesia's official Antara news agency reported deaths had occurred at two other beach resorts in Java, and Metro TV put the number of dead above 30 in the central Java port of Cilacap.

"The search is still going on to find those who probably have been swept away by the tsunami waves," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose mainly Muslim country is the world's fourth most populous, told reporters.

Sweden's Foreign Ministry said two Swedish children from a holidaying family were said to be missing. There were no immediate reports of other non-Indonesians dead or missing.

The US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake had a magnitude of 7.2, while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.7. Indonesia's state meteorology and geophysics agency said the quake's strength was 6.8 on the Richter Scale.

"RING OF FIRE"

Indonesia's 17,000 islands sprawl along a belt of intense volcanic and seismic activity, part of what is called the "Pacific Ring of Fire".

A tsunami warning for Java's southern coast and nearby Christmas Island was issued by the Pacific Center. Police on Christmas Island, an Australian territory south of Indonesia, said there was no damage there.

The December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was triggered by a massive earthquake. Nearly 170,000 people were killed or reported missing in Indonesia's Aceh province. Tens of thousands died elsewhere, the majority in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

Pangandaran, the area that appeared to receive the brunt of Monday's tsunami, is a popular local tourist spot with many small hotels on the beach. It is close to a nature reserve.

The waves washed away wooden cottages and kiosks lining the shoreline facing the Indian Ocean, witnesses said.

"When the waves came, I heard people screaming and then I heard something like a plane about to crash nearby and I just ran," Uli Sutarli, a plantation worker who was on Pangandaran beach, told Reuters by telephone.

Hendri Subakti, head seismologist at the West Java earthquake centre, said the waves were a maximum of 1.5 metres (4 feet 11 inches) high, although some witnesses talked of waves up to 5 metres (16 feet 5 inches).

Some people were still fleeing the coastal area hours later as rumours spread there could be another quake and tsunami.

Some workers in high-rise Jakarta buildings felt the quake, which struck more than 40 km (25 miles) under the Indian Ocean and was centred 180 km (112 miles) off Pangandaran beach, and fled their offices.

Earthquakes are frequent in Indonesia. In May, an earthquake near the central Java city of Yogyakarta killed more than 5,700 people.