A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Flores Island early Saturday, killing at least 20 people, damaging and collapsing buildings and triggering panic in the quake-prone region.
Six people were injured and two others were reported missing after a landslide caused by the earthquake, local authorities said.
A tsunami warning was issued shortly after the quake, prompting authorities to advise people living near the coast to move to higher ground. The warning was later lifted after Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency found no significant changes in sea levels that could threaten coastal communities.
According to the US Geological Survey, the quake struck at 5:58am local time at a depth of 10 kilometres. Its epicentre was located about 68 kilometres north-northwest of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province. Several aftershocks followed.
Fathur Rahman, head of the Maumere Search and Rescue Agency, said rescuers had recovered at least 20 bodies from Sikka, West Manggarai and East Manggarai regencies. Eight of the bodies were recovered from a landslide in Reok village in Manggarai.
Six people with serious injuries were taken to nearby hospitals, while rescuers continued searching for two villagers believed to be buried beneath mud from the landslide.
East Nusa Tenggara Police Chief Rudi Darmoko said the earthquake caused extensive damage and brought down several buildings. Power outages in towns and villages disrupted communications and made rescue operations more difficult.
He said landslides in Ende regency also blocked sections of the Trans-Flores highway, a roughly 700-kilometre mountain road stretching across Flores Island from Labuan Bajo to Larantuka.
Television footage showed patients being evacuated from several hospitals as a precaution. Medical staff moved beds, oxygen cylinders and other equipment outdoors and established temporary treatment areas.
The National Disaster Management Agency deployed a helicopter to transport supplies and support emergency operations, including possible evacuations. Officials said air support was particularly important because East Nusa Tenggara consists of numerous islands and has difficult terrain and transportation links.
Around 2,000 residents of Nagekeo regency reportedly left their homes and moved to temporary shelters.
The earthquake was felt across large parts of Flores, with initial reports indicating widespread damage.
Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka, said several buildings were damaged and frightened residents rushed to safer areas. She said the waiting room of the port terminal in Maumere had collapsed.
At St. Peter Major Seminary in Sikka, students attending morning Mass fled after part of an assembly hall collapsed, according to seminary rector Rev. Guidelbertus Tanga. He said at least one priest broke his leg after jumping from the second floor during the quake.
The tremor also caused panic in Labuan Bajo, a major gateway to Komodo National Park. Damage was reported in Bima in neighbouring West Nusa Tenggara province and in some areas of southern Sulawesi.
Authorities initially issued a tsunami warning for parts of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi, urging people to stay away from beaches and riverbanks.
Indonesia frequently experiences earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an area marked by active volcanoes and major fault lines.
Flores has experienced devastating earthquakes and tsunamis in the past. A powerful earthquake-generated tsunami in 1992 killed about 2,500 people on the island.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Sulawesi and triggered a tsunami and widespread liquefaction in Palu, killing more than 4,400 people.
A massive offshore earthquake in 2010 sent a three-metre wave toward the Mentawai Islands, killing more than 400 people.
The region suffered its deadliest recent disaster in December 2004, when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed about 230,000 people across a dozen countries.