A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Flores region early Saturday, killing at least 47 people, collapsing buildings and triggering landslides and small tsunamis.
Dozens were injured, and officials warned the toll was likely to rise as rescuers struggled to reach remote communities across the island.
The US Geological Survey said the shallow quake struck at 5:58 am local time at a depth of 10 kilometers. Its epicenter was 68 kilometers north-northwest of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province.
Authorities initially issued tsunami warnings for parts of East and West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi, urging residents to avoid beaches and riverbanks and move to higher ground. The warning was later lifted after monitoring detected no significant continuing threat.
Indonesia’s meteorological agency said small tsunamis nevertheless reached several coastal areas. A 1.61-meter wave hit Riung village in Ngada regency, leaving homes surrounded by mud and debris and stranding fishing boats ashore. Waves measuring 0.94 meters were recorded in Maurole, while levels exceeding 0.5 meters were detected in Bulukumba and Sape.
At least 235 aftershocks followed, including one of magnitude 6.2, the agency said. Later Saturday, a separate magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck North Sumatra at a depth of 172.5 kilometers. Authorities said its depth made significant damage or casualties unlikely.
National Disaster Management Agency chief Suharyanto said rescuers had recovered at least 47 bodies, mostly in Sikka, Manggarai and East Manggarai, while at least 50 injured people were taken to hospitals. The quake flattened 157 houses, damaged nearly 200 others and forced about 2,000 residents into temporary shelters. More than 100 public facilities, including schools, medical centers and churches, were also destroyed.
Landslides buried or isolated villages across six regencies and blocked sections of the Trans-Flores highway, complicating rescue operations. Power failures and disrupted communications also slowed damage assessments. Officials deployed three helicopters and a rescue vessel to deliver supplies and support possible evacuations.
Residents described scenes of panic across Flores. Yohanna Embu, a Sikka resident, said people fled to higher ground and the waiting room at Maumere’s port terminal collapsed. At St. Peter Major Seminary, students and nuns attending morning Mass escaped as an assembly hall roof fell. One priest broke his leg after jumping from a second-floor building, the seminary rector said.
The earthquake was also felt in Labuan Bajo, the gateway to Komodo National Park, and damage was reported in Bima and southern Sulawesi.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is frequently struck by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A 1992 earthquake and tsunami killed about 2,500 people on Flores. In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake off Sumatra generated a tsunami that killed about 230,000 people across a dozen countries.
