Tragedy struck eastern Indonesia on Saturday when a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake claimed the lives of at least 38 individuals. This devastating tremor was soon followed by a series of relentless aftershocks.
In a heartfelt announcement, Suharyanto, the chief of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency, revealed during a press briefing that 38 people are confirmed dead. He added, “Two individuals have sustained severe injuries, 11 others suffered minor wounds, and around 2,000 residents have chosen to evacuate on their own.”
The early hours of Saturday saw chaos erupt as the earthquake shook the region near Flores Island, prompting thousands to flee in fear in response to a tsunami warning issued by authorities.
Although initial tsunami waves under one meter were detected in multiple regions of this Southeast Asian country, the alert was fortunately lifted soon afterward, providing some relief to the anxious population.
In Nagekeo regency, located closest to the quake’s epicenter on Flores, residents urgently sought higher ground as the ocean ominously retreated, leaving them with little time but to react swiftly.
Teams had yet to reach Nagekeo, and communications signals there had been affected, Fathur Rahman, head of the city’s rescue agency, 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, national disaster mitigation agency BNPB said.
Authorities also reported traffic congestion and power outages affecting parts of the regency, it said.
The governor of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, told a media conference at least five people died from collapsing rubble as they slept.
The epicentre of the shallow quake was located off the north coast of the island, about 68 kilometres northwest of the coastal town of Ende, US and Indonesian authorities said.
The initial jolt was followed by strong aftershocks in the same area, including one with a magnitude of 6.1.
“Suddenly it started to shake and I panicked,” 31-year-old hospital customer service official and Maumere resident, Lukas Lotar, told AFP.
Maumere is the main town in Sikka regency, next to Nagekeo regency on Flores.
“Patients also fled the hospital, the jolt was big. I saw some walls were cracked,” he said.
A resident in Nagekeo, Yohanes Babo, 56, said he was at a market when the earth started shaking.
“The shaking was strong. Thankfully, we were already outside the house,” he told AFP.
“People were panicking, running here and there. We’re evacuating for the time being… and trying to get to the hills,” he said, adding: “My family is safe. No one was harmed.”
Strong shaking was also felt across East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara and parts of South Sulawesi, and residents in several areas reported shaking lasting about one minute, 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.
Indonesian geophysics agency BMKG recorded the first quake at 4.58am at a depth of 15km, followed by several aftershocks.
In 1992 the same area was hit by a magnitude-7.5 quake, causing extensive destruction at that time, the agency said.
Tsunami scare
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) warned earlier on Saturday of the possibility of tsunami waves following the quake and urged people to get to higher ground.
An alert was issued for waves ranging from 0.5 metres to three metres (1.6 to 9.8 feet), but was later lifted.
Indonesia and neighbouring countries experience frequent earthquakes due to their location in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” — an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Among Indonesia’s history of deadly quakes is a devastating 9.1-magnitude tremor in 2004 that struck off the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.
The Boxing Day tragedy was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.
In 2018, a powerful quake shook the island of Lombok and several more tremors followed over the next couple of weeks, killing more than 550 people on the holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa.
Later that year, a 7.5-magnitude quake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi island left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.
Australia’s tsunami warning centre said the undersea earthquake would have “no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, islands or territories”.