JAKARTA, Indonesia — In the early hours of Saturday, a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled the coast of Indonesia, toppling buildings and homes. This formidable seismic event claimed the lives of at least five individuals and incited panic throughout a region all too familiar with catastrophic earthquakes.
Initially, authorities responded by issuing a tsunami warning, urging those living along the coast to evacuate to higher ground. However, this warning was later rescinded after Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency confirmed that no significant changes in sea levels were observed, eliminating immediate threats to coastal communities.
According to the U.S Geological Survey, the earthquake struck the Flores region of Indonesia at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers at 5:58 a.m. local time. The epicenter was pinpointed 68 kilometers (42 miles) north-northwest of Ende, a city in the East Nusa Tenggara province. The initial tremor was succeeded by a series of aftershocks, further unsettling the area.
East Nusa Tenggara’s top police official, Rudi Darmoko, reported preliminary findings showing two fatalities in Sikka Regency and three in Manggarai Regency. Extensive structural damage and power outages have complicated the situation, impeding communication and making rescue operations challenging.
“We are actively working to gather more information on damages and casualties,” Darmoko stated, “but communication disruptions are proving difficult to navigate.”
Footage on local television showed patients at several hospitals being evacuated from buildings as a precaution following the quake. Hospital staff moved equipment outdoors, including beds, IV stands and oxygen cylinders, and set up temporary treatment areas to adapt to emergency conditions.
Quake felt on Flores island and other areas
The quake was felt across much of Flores island with initial reports indicating heavy damage.
Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka regency, said a number of buildings were damaged by the strong shaking and panicked people ran to higher ground.
“Many buildings here were damaged … I saw that the waiting room at the port terminal in Maumere had collapsed,” she said.
Students at St. Peter Major Seminary in Sikka who were attending morning Mass fled in panic when the roof of an assembly hall collapsed, said the Rev. Guidelbertus Tanga, rector of the seminary, which is known locally as Ritapiret Seminary on the predominantly Catholic island of Flores.
“Our students and nuns ran out in panic beneath a collapsing roof,” Tanga said. “At least one priest suffered a broken leg after jumping from the second floor of a building during the quake.”
The quake also reportedly caused panic in Bima, a city in neighboring West Nusa Tenggara province. There were also damages reported in some part of southern Sulawesi island.
Indonesian authorities initially issued a tsunami warning for parts of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi provinces, and urged residents to stay away from beaches and riverbanks. The agency located the shallow undersea quake near Flores island.
Indonesia prone to earthquakes
Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
A powerful earthquake caused a tsunami in 1992 that killed about 2,500 people on Flores, part of a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 quake spawned a large localized tsunami that wiped out coastal areas, while liquefaction caused by the shaking turned entire neighborhoods into rivers of sludge in the eastern Indonesian city of Palu, on the Palu-Koro Fault. The disaster killed more than 4,400 people.
In 2010, a 10-foot (three-meter) wave struck the Mentawai Islands, off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, just minutes after a massive offshore earthquake. More than 400 people were killed and hundreds of homes were destroyed.
In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 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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