Around 5,000 individuals have been relocated following a powerful magnitude-7.7 earthquake that struck eastern Indonesia, claiming the lives of at least 53 people, causing road blockages, and triggering landslides, as per authorities on Sunday. Over 130 individuals sustained injuries, many of them with fractures.
The earthquake that occurred on Saturday marked the deadliest in Indonesia since a 2022 quake that claimed hundreds of lives in West Java. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) reported that more than 3,300 people in the Sikka region either self-evacuated or sought refuge in a sports arena.
In the aftermath, some Sikka residents found themselves stranded outside collapsed homes, seeking shelter under makeshift tarps. Meanwhile, others received medical attention in tents outside a hospital in Maumere. Abdul Mutas, 63, shared his experience of fleeing with his family to higher ground as the tides rose during the quake.
Simon Subandi, the deputy regent of Sikka, disclosed that nearly all residents opted to sleep outdoors on porches or under tents. The government deployed over 3,500 military and police personnel to the affected region to aid in rescue operations.
Concerns about aftershocks loomed large, with residents in Maumere expressing fear while navigating the debris-laden closed port area. The BNPB confirmed nearly 1,000 aftershocks following the main earthquake, prompting hundreds of locals to seek refuge in a designated sports stadium.
Margaretha Movaldes Da Maga Bapa, head of the region’s disaster response agency, highlighted the rekindled trauma from past earthquakes, recalling the 1992 quake. Search efforts focused on clearing rubble in severely impacted areas to locate potential survivors, with challenges posed by landslides and ongoing aftershocks.
While power restoration neared completion, efforts were ongoing to repair distribution lines. The East Nusa Tenggara government declared a province-wide emergency to facilitate resource mobilization. Geology expert Dwikorita Karnawati emphasized the seismic risks linked to the region’s geological faults, citing the Flores back-arc thrust fault system.
The quake-affected area had previously experienced a devastating magnitude-7.5 earthquake in 1992. Indonesia, a nation situated on the seismically active “Pacific Ring of Fire,” faces frequent seismic and volcanic activities due to tectonic plate movements.