At least 53 people have died and about 5,000 have fled their homes after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck eastern Indonesia, collapsing buildings, cutting roads and triggering landslides, authorities said.
More than 130 people were also injured, many suffering broken bones, officials said.
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The quake was Indonesia’s deadliest since a 2022 tremor in West Java killed hundreds.
In Sikka, one of the worst-hit regions, more than 3,300 people either evacuated on their own or sought shelter inside a sports arena, according to the national disaster mitigation agency, known as BNPB.
Indonesia is a vast archipelago of 290 million people that lies along the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, one of the world’s most seismically active regions, where shifting tectonic plates fuel frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Damaged buildings following the earthquake in Ruteng, Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara
Fear of aftershocks
At a port in Maumere that has since been closed, residents picked their way through debris from a collapsed roof and walls as fears of further tremors persisted.
Nearly a thousand aftershocks have been detected since the main earthquake, the disaster agency said.
Hundreds of people gathered at a nearby sports stadium, now designated as an evacuation centre.
As evening fell, residents queued for warm drinks while families tried to create a sense of normality. Some mothers draped clothing over tent frames to make makeshift cradles for their babies, while children played soccer outside.
Lisda, 22, was among those sheltering in a tent with her twin babies because she was too frightened to sleep inside her home.
In another tent, 67-year-old Yuvienta Saen described the impossible choice she faced when the earthquake struck during her morning prayers: whether to save herself or her paralysed husband.
“He told me, you run, I’m handing my fate to God,” she said, adding that people in the tent were short of clean water and blankets.
Hundreds of aftershocks followed the earthquake
The region was devastated by a magnitude-7.5 earthquake in 1992, Indonesia’s geophysics agency said, leaving a legacy of destruction and fear.
Margaretha Movaldes Da Maga Bapa, who leads the region’s disaster mitigation agency, said the latest disaster had revived painful memories.
“We’ve had quakes often. But this one really brings back the trauma of the one from 1992,” she said, pointing to the trucks delivering aid and tents.
Suryaman, an official with the rescue agency, said teams were concentrating on clearing rubble in the hardest-hit areas of Manggarai, East Manggarai and Nagekeo, searching for anyone who might still be trapped.
The agency had not received any reports of missing people, Suryaman said, but landslides and continuing aftershocks were making the search more difficult.
Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said in a statement that more than 3,500 military and police personnel had been sent to the region.
Electricity supplies had been almost completely restored, although crews were still repairing distribution lines, state utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara said.
The East Nusa Tenggara government has declared a provincial emergency, BNPB said, enabling authorities to mobilise additional resources and funding.
