Rescue teams searched through collapsed buildings and debris on Saturday, August 15, after a powerful earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Flores island, killing at least 20 people and forcing thousands to evacuate.
Fathur Rahman, a rescue official, said fatalities had been reported across four towns on the eastern Indonesian island, a popular tourist destination.
“From the reports we have received, 20 people have died, six are injured, and two are still buried,” Fathur said by telephone from a boat travelling to Nagekeo regency, the worst-affected area.
Two people were also believed to be trapped alive beneath rubble in neighbouring Manggarai regency following the magnitude-7.7 earthquake.
“Our focus will be on locating the victims who are buried under the rubble,” said Fathur, explaining that landslides blocking several roads had disrupted rescue operations.
In Nagekeo, the regency closest to the epicentre, frightened residents rushed towards higher ground after the sea suddenly receded—an indication that a tsunami could be approaching.
Authorities later cancelled the tsunami warning, although people were advised to stay away from damaged buildings because continuing aftershocks could cause further collapses.
Dozens of aftershocks have been recorded since the initial earthquake, with the strongest reaching a magnitude of 6.1.
Nagekeo resident Yohanes Babo, 56, said he was at a market when the powerful tremor began.
“The shaking was strong. Thankfully, we were already outside the house,” he told AFP.
“People were panicking, running here and there. We’re evacuating for the time being … and trying to get to the hills,” he said, adding: “My family is safe. No one was harmed.”
US and Indonesian authorities placed the epicentre of the shallow earthquake just off Flores’ northern coast, approximately 68 kilometres northwest of the coastal town of Ende.
At the port of Maumere, rescuers recovered a body from a partially collapsed building. According to footage released by the rescue agency, two other people were pulled alive from the wreckage.
Fathur said two people were evacuated alive from the debris and “one was found deceased”.
Authorities were continuing to assess the overall extent of the destruction across the affected region.
Lukas Lotar, who lives in Maumere, around 2,500 kilometres east of Jakarta, recalled how the ground “suddenly started to shake and I panicked”.
“Patients also fled the hospital, the jolt was big. I saw some walls were cracked,” Lotar, a hospital customer service official, told AFP.
Most communities in the affected area consist of smaller towns and villages, with few high-rise buildings.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) initially warned that the earthquake could generate tsunami waves and instructed coastal residents to move to higher ground.
Long lines of evacuees were seen leaving towns on foot, by motorcycle and in cars, while others crowded into the backs of pickup trucks.
“We have ended (the tsunami warning) but we will keep monitoring the sea level,” said BMKG earthquake and tsunami director Wijayanto, who, like many Indonesians, uses one name.
Earthquakes regularly affect Indonesia and surrounding countries because of their position along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a belt of intense seismic activity extending from Japan through Southeast Asia and around the Pacific basin.
Flores previously experienced a magnitude-7.7 earthquake in 1992 that generated a tsunami and killed approximately 2,500 people.
Indonesia was also among the countries devastated by the magnitude-9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in 2004.
The resulting tsunami killed around 220,000 people across the region, including approximately 170,000 in Indonesia, making the Boxing Day disaster one of the deadliest natural catastrophes in recorded history.
In 2018, a major earthquake and a succession of tremors struck Lombok, killing more than 550 people on the popular holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa.
Later the same year, a magnitude-7.5 earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated Palu on Sulawesi island, leaving more than 4,300 people dead or missing.
