- Thousands flee homes after Indonesia earthquake kills 51 and landslides block roads
- Magnitude-7.7 quake triggers landslides and hundreds of aftershocks in East Nusa Tenggara
- The quake was followed by around 341 aftershocks, making it Indonesia’s deadliest earthquake since a 2022 tremor in West Java killed hundreds
More than 5,000 people have abandoned their homes after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck eastern Indonesia, killed at least 51 people, damaged more than 1,300 homes and landslides blocked roads, authorities said Sunday.
The Saturday morning earthquake in East Nusa Tenggara province also left 36 people seriously injured and 77 with minor injuries, Deputy Health Minister Benjamin Paulus Octavianus said during a televised meeting.
The quake was followed by around 341 aftershocks, making it Indonesia’s deadliest earthquake since a 2022 tremor in West Java killed hundreds. More than 3,300 people in the Sikka region either evacuated themselves or sought shelter in a sports arena, according to the disaster mitigation agency BNPB.
In Sikka, some residents whose homes had collapsed were sleeping under makeshift tarpaulin shelters, while injured people were being treated in a tent outside a hospital in the port town of Maumere.
Thousands of troops deployed
More than 3,500 military and police personnel have been deployed to the affected region, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said. Rescuers have reached parts of Maumere that had been cut off by landslides, Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said.
Authorities had not immediately established how many people were missing, although many were believed to be trapped beneath rubble. BNPB said more than 1,300 homes had been damaged.
Power outages have also disrupted fuel supplies, with state energy company Pertamina reporting that 20 petrol stations were not operational.
The East Nusa Tenggara government is considering declaring an emergency across the province, BNPB said. Such a declaration would allow authorities to mobilise additional resources and funding.
Region has suffered major quakes before
Indonesia’s geophysics agency said the area struck by Saturday’s earthquake was also hit by a magnitude-7.5 earthquake in 1992 that caused extensive destruction.
Indonesia, an archipelago of around 290 million people, lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active zone where tectonic plates meet and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur frequently.
