LABUAN BAJO – In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, rescue teams on Sunday scoured through collapsed structures and landslide debris in eastern Indonesia, fervently searching for victims and potential survivors. The powerful earthquake, which struck just a day earlier, has claimed at least 47 lives, left over a hundred injured, and driven thousands from their homes.
According to the National Disaster Management Agency, Manggarai regency mourns the loss of at least 24 individuals, while nearby East Manggarai has reported 17 fatalities. Sikka, Ngada, and Ende regencies have also confirmed additional deaths. Rescuers continued their search for villagers possibly entombed by landslides, desperately spanning six regencies on the deeply affected Flores island, a predominantly Catholic region in Indonesia, a nation where Muslims form the majority.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the earthquake, registering a magnitude of 7.7, struck 68 kilometers (42 miles) north-northwest of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province. Situated at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles) just off the coast of Flores, this seismic event sent tremors coursing through much of the island, driving panicked residents out of their homes. The shockwaves were felt as far as the neighboring West Nusa Tenggara and parts of southern Sulawesi.
In its wake, the disaster agency reported over 900 homes completely demolished and nearly 450 more damaged, displacing roughly 5,000 individuals into temporary accommodations. Thousands more opted to sleep outside, wary of aftershocks. The devastation stretched to at least 167 public facilities, including schools, health centers, and churches that were also damaged.
Amidst the tragedy, relief workers are on the ground distributing essentials like rice, ready-to-eat meals, drinking water, blankets, and medicines. Temporary shelters are being established for the displaced. Amid these efforts, restoring electricity and communications, together with delivering aid to remote villages now cut off by landslides, poses significant challenges for the authorities.
The quake also struck Labuan Bajo, the gateway to Komodo National Park, one of Indonesia’s best-known tourist destinations. Landslides blocked sections of the Trans-Flores Highway, a roughly 700-kilometer (435-mile) road linking communities across the mountainous island.
Many residents continued to sleep outside rather than risk returning to damaged homes.
“The shaking was terrifying, so intense that my house nearly collapsed,” said Anastasia Imad, a farmer in Labuan Bajo, speaking from a makeshift green tent beside her damaged home. “We feared the aftershocks would bring it down on us while we slept.”
Rescue teams resumed searches Sunday in areas that had remained inaccessible since the quake, particularly in Manggarai, East Manggarai and Nagekeo regencies.
“We have cleared most landslides and reopened roads to previously isolated villages, although communication disruptions and power outages continue to hamper search efforts,” said Fathur Rahman, head of the Search and Rescue Office in Maumere, the capital of Sikka regency.
He said rescuers were focusing on searching the rubble of collapsed homes and other buildings for possible victims.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped arc of seismic faults and volcanoes.
Flores has experienced some of the country’s deadliest disasters. A powerful earthquake and tsunami in 1992 killed about 2,500 people on the island.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake triggered a tsunami on Sulawesi that killed more than 4,400 people. In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake off Sumatra unleashed a tsunami that killed about 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
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Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
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