AT LEAST 42 people, including many elderly and children, were killed in Malaysia.

The areas hit were in northwest Malaysia, separated by the Malacca strait from Indonesia’s Sumatra island. The Government ordered the affected areas to be evacuated.

“Our country has never experienced such a disaster before,” Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said. “But among the tsunami-hit nations, we are the least affected.”

More people, mainly picnickers and fishermen, were missing from the worst-hit area on the holiday resort island of Penang, rescue officials said.

Many fishermen were feared missing after the wave hit the western coast of Penang. “Many fishing boats had gone out to sea this morning and not all have returned,” Mohamad Johari Mohamad Taufik, Penang’s Civil Defence Director, said.

Along the Tanjung Tokong road in Penang, where land reclamation had been taking place, two 5m (15ft) fishing boats were flung about 13m on to a road. Nearby houses were damaged and the roads were filled with mud.

Along the Kuala Muda coast of Kedah state bordering Thailand, ten people died. A police spokesman said about 1,000 houses were destroyed and about 5,000 people had been affected.

“The boats smashed into a concrete divider of the four-lane road,” a security official said.

Faizal Inwar, 30, a trader, said there were some tremors on the island early on Sunday morning. “At midday, as I drove by the coast (on the northern Penang side), there was this rare sight of white colour on the surface of the water and it was bubbling,” he said. “Then huge waves some six metres high pounded the shore for some 15 minutes. There were many people on the beach before the waves, after that it was empty.”

At least 100 people were injured and more than 200 houses swept away in the two worst-hit states of Penang and Kedah.

Some of those killed were picnickers and jet skiers at the Batu Ferringhi beach on Penang island, including a family of five.

Waves tossed a jet ski into a hotel lobby and overturned several yachts in Langkawi island near the Thai border. Fishing boats in Langkawi were seen piled on top of cars.

Rescuers said that dozens were feared missing from a fishing village in Kedah.

Thousands of residents of high-rise buildings poured into the streets across the west coast of Malaysia, frightened by aftershocks. (Reuters)

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