A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Indonesia early Saturday, killing at least 47 people, toppling buildings, and triggering massive landslides that cut off rescue access to remote villages across Flores Island.
The quake hit at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers at 5:58 a.m. local time, with its epicenter located 68 kilometers northwest of Ende city in East Nusa Tenggara province, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) confirmed the death toll and warned it could rise significantly as rescue teams work to reach isolated areas.
Landslides Block Access to Worst-Hit Areas
Landslides triggered by the quake blocked the Trans-Flores highway, a roughly 700-kilometer mountain road that spans the island from Labuan Bajo to Larantuka. Communications infrastructure was also disrupted across six districts of Flores, leaving Nagekeo, the region closest to the epicenter, largely inaccessible to emergency responders.
Fathur Rahman, who heads the Search and Rescue Office in Maumere, the capital of Sikka regency, said the death toll could climb as many remote villages remain cut off by earth and debris. Dozens of aftershocks followed the initial quake, compounding the danger for residents already displaced from damaged structures.
Residents Fled in Panic
Witnesses described scenes of panic as the ground shook violently across the island. “The quake was massive, the shock was so strong,” said Nona, a 51-year-old resident of Talibura village in East Nusa Tenggara. “There were 13 of us inside the house and we all ran to save ourselves.”
Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka regency, recounted how people fled to higher ground and riverbanks as buildings collapsed around them. Hospitals in Ruteng set up temporary medical tents outside their facilities to treat the wounded, fearing further structural collapses from aftershocks.
Indonesia’s meteorology agency briefly issued a tsunami warning for the region before lifting it. A minor tsunami was detected following the initial quake, though no significant wave damage was reported along the coast.
Region Has History of Deadly Quakes
Flores Island sits in one of the most seismically active zones on Earth, along the Pacific Ring of Fire where tectonic plates collide. The same region was devastated in 1992 when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed approximately 2,500 people on Flores.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in Sulawesi province generated a devastating tsunami that killed thousands. Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, experiences hundreds of earthquakes annually, though few reach the intensity of Saturday’s event.
President Prabowo Subianto is expected to address the disaster and coordinate the national emergency response. International aid organizations have begun mobilizing resources, with the United Nations monitoring the situation for potential humanitarian assistance requests.
Sources: AP; Reuters; NBC News; Japan Times; BNPB Indonesia
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