Magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes Indonesia's Flores region, killing at least 38
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's Flores region early Saturday, killing at least 38 people and injuring more than a dozen others. The U.S. Geological Survey placed the epicenter 68 kilometers north-northwest of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province at a depth of 10 kilometers. Authorities issued a tsunami warning that was later lifted after monitoring showed no significant sea-level changes.
The quake hit at 5:58 a.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and was followed by several aftershocks. The head of Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency, Suharyanto, said rescuers recovered at least 38 bodies, concentrated in the regencies of Sikka, Manggarai, and East Manggarai. Sixteen of those deaths came from a single landslide in the village of Reok in Manggarai. At least 13 people were taken to hospitals, including two with serious injuries.
Widespread damage was reported across Flores island and neighboring areas. East Nusa Tenggara Police Chief Rudi Darmoko said power outages in cities and villages hampered the flow of information and complicated search and rescue operations. Landslides triggered by the quake also cut off the Trans-Flores highway, a roughly 700-kilometer mountain road spanning Flores Island, according to NPR's reporting on the Associated Press dispatch. About 2,000 villagers in Nagekeo regency fled their homes to temporary shelters, Suharyanto said.
Eyewitness accounts described scenes of panic. Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka regency, said a number of buildings were damaged and people ran to higher ground, adding that the waiting room at the port terminal in Maumere had collapsed. At St. Peter Major Seminary in Sikka, students attending morning Mass fled when the roof of an assembly hall collapsed; the rector said at least one priest suffered a broken leg after jumping from a second-floor building during the quake.