Indonesia Earthquake Kills at Least 47 on Flores Island

MAUMERE, Indonesia —

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Flores Island in eastern Indonesia early Saturday, killing at least 47 people, according to the country's National Disaster Management Agency, known as the BNPB. The toll was expected to rise as rescue teams worked to reach communities cut off by landslides and downed phone lines, the BBC reported.

The quake hit shortly before 5 a.m. local time at a depth of about nine miles (15 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which put the epicenter roughly 42 miles (68 kilometers) northwest of the coastal town of Ende. Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more surface damage than deeper ones, the BBC reported.

Indonesian authorities issued a tsunami warning that was lifted about three hours later, after monitoring showed no significant rise in sea levels, the BBC and The Guardian reported. Even so, waves of up to 1.6 meters (about five feet) hit some coastal areas, including one that struck Ngada village in East Manggarai, according to The Guardian.

Rescue Efforts Slowed By Landslides

Fathur Rahman, head of the rescue agency in the port town of Maumere, said 20 people had died there and in three nearby towns on Flores, with six injured and two still trapped under rubble, the Korea Herald reported. He said landslides had blocked roads, including the Trans-Flores highway, a 435-mile mountain route that connects communities across the island, according to Rudi Darmoko, the police chief of East Nusa Tenggara province.

Rescue teams had not yet reached Nagekeo regency, the area closest to the epicenter, because of blocked roads and disrupted phone service, Fathur said. A team was trying to reach it by ferry instead, according to The Guardian.

The BNPB said 24 deaths had been recorded in Manggarai province, 17 of them in East Manggarai, along with three in Sikka province and at least one each in Ngada, Ende and West Manggarai, the BBC reported. Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, governor of East Nusa Tenggara province, said some victims were killed in their sleep by collapsing rubble, according to the BBC.

Video verified by Reuters showed part of a building collapsing at the port in Maumere as people ran screaming into the street. Preliminary damage assessments found more than 150 homes severely damaged, along with dozens of schools and several health facilities, the BBC reported.

Aftershocks Expected To Continue

More than 235 aftershocks had been recorded by Saturday evening, including one of magnitude 6.1, according to The Guardian. The USGS said in its assessment that there is a 63 percent chance of another magnitude 6 or larger aftershock within a week, and an 11 percent chance of one at magnitude 7 or larger.

The USGS rated the quake an "orange" alert on its disaster-impact scale, warning that "significant casualties and damage are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread," and noting that past events at that alert level have required a national response.

About 2,000 people evacuated from Nagekeo regency, the BNPB said, according to Euronews. A second, deeper earthquake struck off northern Sumatra hours later, with no casualties reported there.

Indonesia sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a zone of intense seismic activity, and has a history of deadly earthquakes, including a 1992 quake on Flores that killed about 2,500 people and a 2004 quake off Sumatra that triggered a tsunami killing 220,000 people across the region, the Korea Herald reported.