Indonesia Earthquake: At Least 38 Dead After Magnitude-7.7 Quake

At least 38 people were killed after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia early Saturday, triggering tsunami waves of less than one metre and dozens of aftershocks, as rescue workers rushed to reach areas closest to the epicentre.

The tsunami warning was lifted about three hours after the quake, but authorities said residents remained trapped in several buildings and landslides had blocked roads in affected areas. Around 2,000 people fled to safer ground, while rescue teams were still trying to reach Nagekeo, the region closest to the epicentre.

“As of 15:00 (0800 GMT), the recorded figures are 38 fatalities, two people seriously injured, 11 with minor injuries,” Suharyanto, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, or BNPB, told a televised press conference. He added that approximately 2,000 people had fled to safer ground.

Earlier, rescuers in the port town of Maumere found 20 dead, six injured and two trapped under the rubble, said Fathur Rahman, head of the city’s rescue agency. Maumere is the main town in Sikka Regency on Flores Island in the east of Indonesia’s vast archipelago.

Landslides Block Routes To Quake-Hit Areas

Teams have yet to reach Nagekeo, the region closest to the epicentre, and communications signals there had been affected, Fathur told Reuters. Attempts to reach Nagekeo by car were blocked by landslides, while another team was attempting to go by ferry, he said.

About 2,000 residents in Nagekeo evacuated, and damage was reported to a number of houses, warehouses and government facilities, the BNPB said. Authorities also reported traffic congestion and power outages affecting parts of the regency.

The governor of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, told a press conference that at least five people died from collapsing rubble as they slept.

Parts of a building collapsed into dust and rubble as people screamed and ran in the street, a video on Facebook, verified by Reuters as being at a port in Maumere, showed.

“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.”

Strong shaking was felt across East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara and parts of South Sulawesi, and residents in several areas reported shaking lasting about one minute, the BNPB said in a statement.

“Most of the people felt the shock and scattered out of their homes,” it said.

A hospital in the district of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara Province was moving patients outside, Kompas TV footage showed, and Kompas.com reported at least one landslide.

Indonesia’s geophysics agency BMKG recorded the first quake at 4.58 a.m. (2158 GMT) at a depth of 15 km (9 miles), followed by several aftershocks.

In 1992, the same area was hit by a magnitude-7.5 quake, causing extensive destruction at the time, the agency said.

Australia’s tsunami warning centre said the undersea earthquake would pose “no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, islands or territories”.

Indonesia straddles the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a seismically active zone where different plates on the earth’s crust meet, creating a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.