A strong magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit off the shores of Indonesia early Saturday, causing structural damage and prompting a tsunami alert. Authorities advised individuals along the affected coastlines to relocate to higher ground. According to the U.S Geological Survey, the earthquake struck the Flores region of Indonesia at a depth of 10 kilometers around 5:58 a.m. local time. The epicenter was situated 68 kilometers north-northwest of Ende city in East Nusa Tenggara province.
Following the initial seismic event, multiple aftershocks were felt, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency issued a tsunami warning for specific provinces, including East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, and Southeast Sulawesi, advising residents to steer clear of beaches and riverbanks. The agency pinpointed the shallow undersea quake near Flores island.
Residents residing along the affected shorelines were instructed to move to higher ground while officials kept a close eye on coastal tide gauges for any alterations. The earthquake’s impact was widespread across Flores island, with initial assessments indicating damage to residential and public structures. However, official figures on the extent of the destruction or any casualties had not been released yet.
Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka in East Nusa Tenggara province, reported that numerous buildings sustained damage from the intense tremors, prompting people to flee to safer locations. She mentioned, “Many structures here were impacted… I witnessed the collapse of the waiting area at the Maumere port terminal.”
At St. Peter Major Seminary in Sikka, students attending morning Mass were thrown into a state of panic as the roof of an assembly hall collapsed, as described by Reverend Guidelbertus Tanga, the seminary’s rector. The incident led to a chaotic evacuation, with at least one priest sustaining a broken leg while leaping from a second-floor building during the earthquake.
Indonesia, comprising over 17,000 islands, is vulnerable to seismic activities and volcanic eruptions due to its position on the “Ring of Fire,” a region marked by volcanic belts and tectonic plate boundaries in the Pacific Ocean. In a tragic event in December 1992, a magnitude 7 earthquake triggered a tsunami that claimed approximately 2,500 lives on Flores, one of the islands in the eastern part of Indonesia.