Powerful earthquake kills at least 20 in Indonesia, triggers mass evacuations
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's Flores island has killed at least 20 people and sent thousands fleeing. Rescuers are searching for people still trapped under rubble after a tsunami warning was lifted.
A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Flores island in eastern Indonesia on Saturday, killing at least 20 people and prompting thousands of residents to flee their homes. Rescue official Fathur Rahman told AFP the confirmed deaths came from four towns across the island, with six people injured and two still buried under debris.
The hardest-hit region is Nagekeo, located closest to the quake's epicentre, which was situated in shallow waters roughly 68 kilometres off the coastal town of Ende. In neighbouring Manggarai regency, two people remain trapped alive under rubble.
Rescue operations have been hampered by landslides that cut off several roads. As the sea retreated near Nagekeo shortly after the quake, residents rushed to higher ground fearing a tsunami. Authorities later lifted the tsunami warning but urged people to avoid damaged buildings, as dozens of aftershocks continued, the strongest reaching magnitude 6.1.
Witnesses described chaotic scenes as people fled on foot, by motorbike, car and in the backs of pickup trucks. One resident of Maumere recounted patients fleeing a hospital as walls cracked during the shaking. A Nagekeo resident, who was at a market when the quake hit, said his family survived unharmed and that people were rushing toward the hills.
The affected areas consist mostly of towns and villages with few high-rise buildings, which may have limited the scale of structural damage. Indonesia's meteorological agency, BMKG, initially warned of possible tsunami waves before lifting the alert, while continuing to monitor sea levels.
Indonesia sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a zone of frequent seismic activity. Flores was struck by a similarly powerful 7.7-magnitude quake in 1992 that triggered a tsunami killing around 2,500 people. Indonesia's deadliest recent disaster remains the 2004 magnitude-9.1 quake off Sumatra, whose tsunami killed roughly 220,000 people across the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.
