A powerful 7.7-magnitude quake hit near Flores island in eastern Indonesia on Saturday, triggering immediate tsunami warnings and mass evacuations. Residents in the Nagekeo regency fled to higher ground as the sea retreated, fearing a major surge.
Two fatalities confirmed near the Flores epicentre
A massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the north coast of Flores island, approximately 68 kilometers northwest of the coastal town of Ende. According to disaster agency spokesman Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan, the tremor has resulted in the deaths of one man and one woman. The shallow quake was immediately followed by a 6.1-magnitude aftershock that continued to unsettle the local population.
Residents in the Nagekeo regency , the area closest to the seismic center, described scenes of intense panic. As reported by AFP, 56-year-old resident Yohanes Babo said he was at a market when the earth began to shake, noting that "people were panicking, running here and there" as families scrambled toward the hills for safety.
The 3-meter tsunami alert for East Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi
Following the initial jolt, Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) issued a tsunami warning for several provinces. BMKG director Wijayanto noted that modeling suggested waves between 0.5 and 3 meters could impact East Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, and West Nusa Tenggara. While the alert was eventually lifted, Wijayanto stated that officials would continue to monitor sea levels closely.
To mitigate the risk of a surge, Abdul Muhari of the national disaster agency, BNPB, urged residents to move at least two kilometers inland or seek elevations higher than 10 meters. The agency's instructions were aimed at protecting communities along both the northern coast of Flores and the southern islands to prevent a repeat of previous maritime disasters.
A grim parallel to the 2004 Sumatra and 2018 Palu quakes
This seismic event serves as a stark reminder of Indonesia's position within the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of intense activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia. the region has a history of catastrophic events, such as the 9.1-magnitude Sumatra earthquake in 2004 that killed 220,000 people throughout the region, including approximately 170,000 in Indonesia alone.
Similar devastation occurred in 2018, when a powerful quake shook Lombok, killing more than 550 people. Later that year, a 7.5-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami in Palu, Sulawesi, left more than 4,300 people dead or missing. The recent activity near Flores island highlights the persistent vulnerability of these coastal communities to sudden, massive shifts in the earth's crust.
The unverified extent of structural damage in Nagekeo
While the immediate death toll is low, significant questions remain regarding the total impact of the earthquake on local infrastructure. as the report notes,disaster agencies are still waiting for confirmed data to provide a final count of casualties and the full scale of building damage caused by the primary quake and its aftershocks.
It remains unclear how many homes in the Nagekeo regency have been rendered uninhabitable or if the two reported deaths were caused by collapsing structures. Furthermore, the report does not yet specify the total number of people currently displaced or the status of essential services in the affected coastal towns.
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