The 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck off Indonesia’s Flores Island early Saturday has produced confirmed tsunami waves, collapsed a port terminal, and damaged buildings across at least five districts, though no deaths or injuries have been reported as of this writing despite a rupture nearly identical in size to the 1992 Flores quake that killed more than 2,500 people. The quake hit at 05:58 WITA (21:58 UTC Friday) at a depth of 10 kilometers, with its epicenter 68 kilometers north-northwest of Ende on a shallow east-striking thrust fault that ruptured an area of roughly 90 by 45 kilometers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Real Tsunami Waves Recorded, Not Just a Warning
Unlike many tsunami alerts that are lifted without a wave ever arriving, this one produced measurable water surges. Indonesia’s meteorology agency BMKG recorded a maximum wave height of 94 centimeters at Maurole district in Ende Regency, close to the epicenter, with a smaller 30-centimeter surge reaching Labuan Bajo further west. The tsunami warning covered 22 areas across East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, and Southeast Sulawesi, and authorities ordered coastal residents to move to higher ground while the alert remained active.
Buildings Down in Five Districts
The clearest structural damage is a collapsed passenger terminal at the port in Maumere, a key transit hub on Flores. In Ruteng, further west, the ceiling partially collapsed at Frans Sales Lega Airport and officials reported many other damaged buildings including a university campus structure. East Manggarai Regency and the town of Borong also reported damaged buildings, collapsed homes in more remote areas, and at least one damaged bridge. In Mbay, Nagekeo Regency, five to six homes were damaged. Shaking was strong enough to be felt for roughly two minutes in Makassar, a city of more than 1.4 million people some 400 kilometers from the epicenter.
Aftershock Sequence Still Active
At least seven aftershocks above magnitude 5.0 have followed the mainshock, the strongest a magnitude 6.1 recorded at 22:28 UTC, roughly half an hour after the initial rupture. Two more, magnitude 5.9 and 5.6, struck within the same half-hour window. BMKG and the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre have both warned residents to expect continued aftershocks in the coming days, some potentially strong enough to cause further damage to already-weakened structures. A smaller magnitude 4.6 tremor on August 2 in the same area is now considered a possible foreshock.
Widespread Shaking, No Confirmed Casualties
BMKG estimated that 56,000 people experienced severe shaking, 420,000 felt very strong tremors, and more than 1.1 million experienced strong shaking across the region. The USGS separately estimated that over 500,000 people on Flores Island alone were exposed to very strong or severe shaking, capable of moderate damage in well-built structures and serious damage in poorly built ones. Despite that exposure and the confirmed building damage, Indonesia’s national disaster agency BNPB had not released any casualty figures as of this writing, and no deaths or injuries have been confirmed by local officials in the affected districts. The USGS’s automated PAGER system had flagged a yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses before the full damage picture emerged, indicating some casualties remained possible.
The earthquake struck as Indonesia faces an unusually dry year, with BMKG recording the driest July since 1991 across parts of the archipelago and a nearly 600% surge in wildfire hotspots between June and July, compounding the strain on emergency resources already responding to the quake.
Live updates
BNPB's death toll has risen again, to 47. The agency also published its fullest damage count yet: 346 houses damaged (157 severely), plus 87 schools, 18 health facilities, 5 houses of worship and 6 government offices affected, with relief supplies now being dispatched from Jakarta.
The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta issued a natural disaster alert telling Americans in East Nusa Tenggara to avoid coastal areas and roads and seek secure shelter. Flights to Ende have been cancelled, though Labuan Bajo's Komodo International Airport is operating normally.
BMKG says it has now recorded 111 aftershocks since the mainshock, and a deputy director for geophysics warned that aftershocks are continuing even though the tsunami warning has been lifted.
Figures have not yet been fully reconciled between agencies: Maumere search and rescue official Fathur Rahman put the toll at 40 dead and 50 injured, a somewhat higher local count than BNPB's national figure of 38 dead and 13 injured.
BNPB's first detailed damage tally: 54 houses severely damaged, plus five health facilities, three houses of worship, six government buildings, one school and one warehouse affected across the disaster zone.
The death toll has risen sharply again, to 38, with 13 injured including two seriously, Suharyanto, head of Indonesia's national disaster mitigation agency, said. He said victims remain trapped in several buildings and rescue teams are prioritizing those sites.
Road access to Nagekeo is blocked by landslides, officials say, so one rescue team is now trying to reach the hardest-hit regency by ferry instead.
Hospital walls cracked in both Maumere and Ende, and school buildings collapsed or were damaged across Ruteng, West Manggarai, Nagekeo and Selayar Island, widening the known damage footprint beyond the initial reports.
Rescue teams have not yet been able to reach Nagekeo Regency, the area closest to the epicenter, and communications signals there have been disrupted, officials say, meaning the true toll in the hardest-hit area is still unknown.
The death toll has jumped sharply to 20, Fathur Rahman of the Maumere Search and Rescue Office said, with six people injured and two more still buried in rubble as search teams keep digging.
Officials say all five confirmed victims died when rubble from collapsing buildings hit them as they slept, and that the death toll is expected to climb further as emergency teams keep working through the aftermath.
About 2,000 residents evacuated in Nagekeo Regency, near the epicenter, with damage reported to houses, warehouses and government facilities across the district, local officials say.
The death toll has climbed to five, East Nusa Tenggara governor Melki Laka Lena said at a press conference in Kupang: two deaths in Sikka Regency and three in Manggarai Regency. Some roads have been cut off by landslides triggered by the quake.
BNPB says both confirmed deaths occurred at Maumere port, a man and a woman, with one more person injured there. The agency says the full extent of damage is still emerging since responders have not yet reached several affected areas, meaning the toll could still change.
Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency confirmed the death toll has risen to two, an official told Xinhua, as authorities continue to warn of possible aftershocks.
Indonesia's Joint Search and Rescue Team confirmed one death, a 54-year-old woman killed when a building collapsed in Maumere, and said two other people were injured. Officials are separately verifying unconfirmed reports of a second death.
Indonesia's meteorology agency BMKG has officially declared the tsunami warning over, saying the alert triggered by the magnitude 7.7 quake has ended.