At least 20 people have been killed after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia on Saturday, triggering rescue operations and tsunami warnings across parts of the country.
Rescue workers in the port town of Maumere recovered 20 bodies, while six people were injured and two others remained trapped beneath debris, according to Fathur Rahman, head of the city’s rescue agency. Maumere is the administrative centre of Sikka Regency on Flores Island, in Indonesia’s eastern archipelago.
Emergency teams were still unable to reach Nagekeo, the area nearest to the earthquake’s epicentre, because communications had been disrupted, Fathur said. Efforts to travel there by road were halted by landslides, while a separate rescue team was trying to reach the area by ferry.
The national disaster mitigation agency, BNPB, said about 2,000 people had been evacuated from Nagekeo. Several homes, warehouses and government buildings were damaged, while parts of the regency also experienced traffic congestion and electricity outages, the agency reported.
East Nusa Tenggara Governor Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena told a press conference that at least five people were killed after debris collapsed on them as they slept.
“The quake was massive, the shock was so strong, we were resting at home with family,” said Nona, a 51-year-old resident of Talibura, a village in East Nusa Tenggara. “There were 13 of us inside the house and we all ran to save ourselves.”
The earthquake was felt across East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara and parts of South Sulawesi, with residents in several locations describing tremors that lasted for roughly a minute.
Tsunami waves measuring less than one metre were detected in several parts of the Southeast Asian country following the early-morning earthquake. Authorities cancelled the tsunami warning about three hours after the tremor.
Indonesia’s geophysics agency, BMKG, said the initial earthquake struck at 4:58 a.m. local time at a depth of 15 kilometres. Several aftershocks were recorded afterward.
The region has experienced major seismic activity before. In 1992, a magnitude-7.5 earthquake struck the same area, leaving widespread destruction, according to BMKG.
Indonesia lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a highly active seismic belt where several tectonic plates converge, making the country particularly vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
