The death toll from a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake off Indonesia’s eastern Flores Island rose to at least 20 on Saturday as rescue workers continued searching for survivors and people trapped beneath collapsed buildings.
Fathur Rahman, head of the rescue agency in the city of Maumere, said emergency teams had recovered the bodies of 20 people following the earthquake. Six people were injured and two others remained trapped under rubble in the coastal city.
Maumere is the main town in Sikka Regency on Flores Island, one of Indonesia’s major islands and part of the country’s eastern province of East Nusa Tenggara.
Rescue operations were also being hampered in Nagekeo, the area closest to the earthquake’s epicentre. Fathur said teams had not yet been able to reach the region because communications had been disrupted.
Attempts to travel to Nagekeo by road were blocked by landslides caused by the earthquake, while another rescue team was attempting to reach the area by sea.
Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency said about 2,000 residents had evacuated Nagekeo following the disaster. Authorities reported damage to homes, warehouses and government facilities in the region.
The earthquake struck early in the morning, sending residents rushing out of their homes as strong shaking was felt across several parts of eastern Indonesia. Buildings were damaged in affected areas, while landslides created additional obstacles for emergency services.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency issued a tsunami warning after the undersea earthquake. The warning was lifted about three hours later after authorities determined that there was no continuing threat from significant tsunami waves.
The agency recorded the earthquake at a depth of 15 kilometres. Several aftershocks were reported after the main tremor, raising concerns among residents and emergency workers.
Authorities urged people to remain alert while rescue and assessment operations continued. The full scale of the damage was not immediately clear because some affected areas remained difficult to reach.
Indonesia experiences frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a highly active seismic zone where several tectonic plates meet.
The country has suffered numerous major earthquakes and tsunamis over the years, making emergency preparedness and rapid evacuation particularly important for communities living along its extensive coastline.
Rescue teams were expected to continue searching damaged areas as officials worked to establish the overall number of casualties and assess the extent of destruction caused by Saturday’s earthquake.
