At least 51 people dead after 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocks Indonesia
Around 5,000 people have been evacuated after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake rocked eastern Indonesia, killing at least 51, blocking roads and causing landslides, authorities said on Sunday.
Around 5,000 people have been evacuated after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake rocked eastern Indonesia, killing at least 51, blocking roads and causing landslides, authorities said on Sunday.
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The National Disaster Management Agency says more than 900 homes have been destroyed.
Thousands have also had to leave their homes, and are spending the night in emergency shelters.
Rescue teams were unable to reach some regions where people are trapped under rubble.
The quake, followed by some 341 aftershocks, is the Southeast Asian nation's deadliest since a 2022 quake killed hundreds in West Java.
A tsunami warning was issued but was later lifted.
"I only brought my body," Abdul Mutas, 63, told Reuters after he and his family slept on a tarp surrounded by trees in the town of Sikka.
"The tides were rising, so we ran," he said, describing their reaction to the quake.
"Almost all of Sikka's residents didn't dare stay indoors, so they slept on a porch or a tent outside," Simon Subandi, deputy regent of Sikka, told news channel KompasTV.
More than 3,500 military and police officers have been deployed to the region, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said in a statement.
The area of the quake was hit in 1992 by a magnitude-7.5 earthquake that caused extensive destruction, Indonesia's geophysics agency said.
Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 290 million people, straddles the "Pacific Ring of Fire", a seismically active zone where tectonic plates meet, triggering frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.