A 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck eastern Indonesia has killed at least 47 people, causing widespread panic and collapsing buildings and homes in a region prone to deadly seismic events. Rescuers have yet to reach Nagekeo, the area closest to the epicentre, because roads were blocked by landslides and communications disrupted. Authorities issued a tsunami warning, which has since been lifted, but there were at least 235 aftershocks, including one of magnitude 6.1.
Indonesian authorities said monitoring showed no significant sea level changes that could indicate a tsunami. Tsunami waves of 1.5 metres (3ft) were recorded in several areas. The Indonesian geophysics agency, BMKG, recorded the first quake at 4.58am on Saturday local time at a depth of 9 miles (15km) in the country’s Flores region.
A second earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck off northern Sumatra, Indonesia, hours after the initial quake, with no casualties yet reported. Rescuers around the port town of Maumere found 20 people dead, six severely injured and two trapped under the rubble, said Fathur Rahman, the head of the city’s rescue agency. Eight of those dead had been killed in a landslide.
Maumere is the main town in Sikka regency on Flores Island in the east of Indonesia’s vast archipelago. A video on Facebook, verified by as being at a port in Maumere, shows parts of a building collapsing as people scream and run in the street. Another video showed a coastal village covered in mud and debris after a 1.61-metre tsunami wave hit Ngada village in east Manggarai.
Preliminary data showed that 346 homes, 87 schools and more than a dozen health facilities had been damaged. Indonesian authorities said residents were trapped in several buildings in the affected area. Teams had not been able to reach Nagekeo, the region closest to the epicentre, and communications signals there had been affected, Fathur said.
Road access was blocked by landslides, and a team was attempting to reach the area by ferry, he said. The police chief of East Nusa Tenggara province, Rudi Darmoko, said the earthquake caused power cuts that made communication difficult between cities and villages, complicating rescue efforts. He said landslides in Ende regency had cut off the Trans-Flores highway, a 435-mile mountain road.
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