Scores Killed As Strong Earthquake Hits Indonesia’s Flores Island; Second Quake Strikes Sumatra

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

MEDAN/MAUMERE (Worthy News) – Scores of people have been killed after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Flores Island early Saturday, authorities said, as rescuers struggled to reach some of the hardest-hit areas, while a less powerful tremor was reported in North Sumatra province.

Authorities put the preliminary death toll at 47 or more, with dozens injured and fears that more victims could be trapped beneath collapsed buildings as search-and-rescue operations continued.

More than 2,000 people were evacuated, while landslides, blocked roads, power outages and disrupted communications complicated efforts to reach some of the worst-hit communities.

Authorities said rescue operations and damage assessments continued Saturday night in Flores, raising concerns that the casualty figures could still rise.

Emergency teams were searching damaged buildings and isolated communities as authorities sought to establish the full scale of the disaster.

FLORES TOLL RISING

Buildings across the region were damaged by the earthquake and the hundreds of aftershocks that followed, sending frightened residents into the streets and leaving many reluctant to return home.

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the government agency responsible for monitoring earthquakes, tsunamis, weather and climate, said the earthquake struck shortly before 5 a.m. local time at a depth of 15 kilometers (about 9 miles).

Authorities issued a tsunami warning following the initial earthquake, prompting people in vulnerable coastal areas to seek higher ground.

BMKG said tsunami waves were subsequently detected at several locations, although the warning was later lifted after authorities determined that the threat had passed.

Dramatic footage reviewed by Worthy News showed people rushing for cover while others fell into the water at a port on Flores.

FLORES PORT CHAOS

Video taken at the port in Maumere showed large chunks of concrete breaking off the terminal building near passengers waiting to board an inter-island ferry.

Some people were thrown into the sea when a gangway leading to a ship collapsed as witnesses reacted in shock.

Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, governor of East Nusa Tenggara province, said some victims were killed in their sleep by collapsing rubble.

Arnold Welianto, who lives in Talibura, a village near the coastline in Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara, said he was awakened by the “very strong shaking.”

“I was startled awake and immediately went to my child’s room,” he recalled.

CHRISTIANS SEEK CONTACT

Some residents sharing video footage from the disaster zone urged people to pray for the stricken region.

“I realized in the mall that there was a quake,” a Christian house church leader in the city of Medan told Worthy News.

The woman, whom Worthy News identified as Victoria, said she had been trying to reach other Christians, including a pastor, on Flores.

“However, communications have been difficult due to the quake,” she told Worthy News.

Her concerns came as another powerful earthquake struck her region on Saturday, thousands of kilometers (miles) away in North Sumatra province, including Medan.

SUMATRA QUAKE HITS

BMKG said the magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck the Simalungun area at 5:54 p.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIB), with its epicenter on land about 11 kilometers (7 miles) southeast of Simalungun.

The agency said its updated analysis placed the North Sumatra earthquake at a depth of about 168 kilometers (104 miles).

Based on the location of the epicenter and depth of the hypocenter, BMKG classified it as an intermediate-depth earthquake associated with subduction-zone activity, with analysis indicating oblique-normal fault movement.

The earthquake was strongly felt “across parts of North Sumatra, including Tebing Tinggi, Kabanjahe and Limapuluh, where shaking reached intensity V on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale (MMI),” meaning it was felt by nearly everyone, BMKG announced.

Shaking was also reported in Medan and other parts of North Sumatra and neighboring Aceh, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or significant damage.

NO SUMATRA TSUNAMI

BMKG said tsunami modeling showed that the North Sumatra earthquake posed no tsunami threat, and no aftershocks had been detected in the immediate aftermath.

The agency urged residents to remain calm, avoid relying on unverified information and stay away from buildings that had been cracked or damaged until their structural safety could be established.

The two powerful earthquakes on opposite sides of the sprawling Indonesian archipelago underscored the country’s vulnerability to seismic activity.

Indonesia sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults and volcanoes where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur frequently.

The country has experienced some of the world’s deadliest earthquakes and tsunamis, including the massive 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that devastated Indonesia’s Aceh province and other nations around the Indian Ocean.

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