At least 20 people were killed after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake and a series of powerful aftershocks struck off eastern Indonesia, according to a local rescue official.
Tsunami waves measuring less than 1 metre reached several parts of the Southeast Asian archipelago before the warning was lifted roughly three hours after the early-morning quake.
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Rescue teams working around the port town of Maumere recovered 20 bodies and found six injured people, while two others remained trapped beneath the rubble, said Fathur Rahman, head of the city’s rescue agency. Maumere is the principal town of Sikka Regency on Flores Island, in eastern Indonesia.
Rescuers had not yet reached Nagekeo, the region nearest the epicentre, where communications had been disrupted, Fathur said.
Families evacuating their homes in Talibura Village, Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara
Roughly 2,000 people in Nagekeo fled their homes, while several houses, warehouses and government buildings were damaged, Indonesia’s national disaster mitigation agency, BNPB, reported.
The agency also said parts of the regency were experiencing severe traffic congestion and power failures.
East Nusa Tenggara Governor Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena told a news conference that at least five people had died when buildings collapsed while they were asleep.
BNPB separately reported one death and four injuries, saying officials were still working to verify and compile information from affected areas.
Video posted on Facebook and verified by Reuters, filmed at a port in Maumere, showed part of a building collapsing into clouds of dust and debris as people screamed and rushed into the street.
Buildings around the island have been left destroyed following the quake
“The quake was massive, the shock was so strong, we were resting at home with family,” 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.”
The shaking was felt across East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara and parts of South Sulawesi. Residents in several locations said the tremors continued for about a minute, BNPB said.
“Most of the people felt the shock and scattered out of their homes,” the agency said in a statement.
A damaged building in Ruteng, Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara
Footage aired by Kompas TV showed a hospital in Ende district moving patients outdoors, while Kompas.com reported that at least one landslide had occurred.
Indonesia’s geophysics agency, BMKG, said the initial quake struck at 4:58 a.m. local time, or 2158 GMT, at a depth of 15 km. Several aftershocks followed.
The same area was struck by a magnitude-7.5 earthquake in 1992, causing widespread destruction, the agency said.
Australia’s tsunami warning centre said the undersea earthquake posed “no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, islands or territories”.
Indonesia lies along the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, one of the world’s most active seismic zones, where shifting tectonic plates generate frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
