Magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes off Indonesia's coast, killing at least 47 and toppling buildings

MAUMERE, Indonesia — A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia early Saturday, killing at least 47 people, collapsing buildings and causing panic in a region prone to deadly quakes. Authorities said dozens more residents were injured and warned that the death toll would almost certainly rise.

Authorities issued a tsunami warning and urged coastal residents to move to higher ground, but later lifted the warning when Indonesia's meteorological agency said monitoring showed no significant sea-level changes that posed a threat to coastal communities. Some smaller tsunamis were reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit Indonesia's Flores region with a depth of six miles at 5:58 a.m. local time. Its epicenter was 42 miles north-northwest of the city of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province.

The meteorological agency said the quake was followed by 235 aftershocks by Saturday afternoon, with the largest up to magnitude 6.2.

The agency's sea-level monitoring stations recorded tsunami waves reaching coastal villages in Manggarai and East Manggarai regencies, with waves up to 5.3 feet high, while waves measuring 3.1 feet were observed in Maurole, Ende Regency.

Videos obtained by The Associated Press showed a coastal village blanketed in mud and debris after a 5.3 foot tsunami reached Ngada village in East Manggarai. Fishing boats were stranded ashore, infrastructure damaged, and homes surrounded by sediment left by receding waters.

Waves measuring 3.1 feet were observed in Maurole, Ende Regency. Tsunami waves exceeding 1.6 feet were detected in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, and Sape in Bima Regency.

A strong, land-based earthquake of 6.9 magnitude hit North Sumatra province in western Indonesia on Saturday afternoon, according to the USGS. It struck 107 miles beneath the earth's surface, meaning it was too deep to cause significant damage or casualties, Indonesian authorities said.

East Nusa Tenggara Police Chief Rudi Darmoko said the earthquake caused severe damage and collapsed buildings. He said power outages in cities and villages have hampered information flow and complicated search and rescue efforts.

"We are continuing to collect reports of damage and casualties, but there are communication disruptions," Darmoko said. He said landslides in Ende regency triggered by the earthquake also cut off the Trans-Flores highway, a roughly 435-mile paved mountain road spanning Flores Island, from Labuan Bajo to Larantuka.

The head of the National Disaster Management Agency, Suharyanto, said rescuers have recovered at least 47 bodies, mostly in Sikka, Manggarai and East Manggarai, and at least 50 people were taken to hospitals.

Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, said the quake flattened at least 157 houses and damaged nearly 200 more, forcing about 2,000 villagers to abandon their homes and move to temporary shelters. The powerful temblor also destroyed more than 100 public facilities, including schools, medical centers and churches.

The death toll could rise because landslides triggered by the earthquake buried or cut off many remote villages across six regencies on Flores Island, said Fathur Rahman, who heads the Search and Rescue Office in Maumere, the capital of Sikka.

Some remote villages were completely buried, he said, and damaged infrastructure and a lack of heavy equipment have hampered rescue efforts.

Authorities said three helicopters and a rescue vessel were deployed to support logistics and emergency response operations, including possible evacuations if needed, given East Nusa Tenggara's geography, which consists of numerous islands and presents significant transportation and access challenges.

The quake was felt across much of Flores island with initial reports indicating heavy damage.

Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka regency, said a number of buildings were damaged by the strong shaking and panicked people ran to higher ground.

"Many buildings here were damaged ... I saw that the waiting room at the port terminal in Maumere had collapsed," she said.

Students at St. Peter Major Seminary in Sikka who were attending morning Mass fled in panic when the roof of an assembly hall collapsed, said the Rev. Guidelbertus Tanga, rector of the seminary, known locally as Ritapiret Seminary on the predominantly Catholic island of Flores.

"Our students and nuns ran out in panic beneath a collapsing roof," Tanga said. "At least one priest suffered a broken leg after jumping from the second floor of a building during the quake."

The quake also reportedly caused panic in Labuan Bajo, a gateway town to eastern Indonesia's Komodo National Park, one of the country's best-known attractions. Damage was also reported in Bima, a city in neighboring West Nusa Tenggara province, and in parts of southern Sulawesi island.

Indonesian authorities initially issued a tsunami warning for parts of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi provinces, and urged residents to stay away from beaches and riverbanks. The agency located the shallow undersea quake near Flores island.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because of its location on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

Most notably, a powerful earthquake caused a tsunami in 1992 that killed about 2,500 people on Flores, part of a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia, while in 2018, a magnitude 7.5 quake spawned a large localized tsunami that wiped out coastal areas, killing more than 4,400 people.

In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Contributing: Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan

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