Thousands evacuated as Indonesia quake death toll rises to 53

Around 5,000 people have been evacuated after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake smashed an area in eastern Indonesia, killing at least 53, blocking roads and causing landslides, authorities said on Sunday.

They said more than 130 people had been injured, many with broken bones.

Saturday’s quake was the Southeast Asian nation’s deadliest since a 2022 quake killed hundreds in West Java.

More than 3,300 people in the Sikka region self-evacuated or were in a sports arena, according to the disaster ​mitigation agency BNPB.

Some Sikka residents were stranded outside collapsed homes under a makeshift ⁠tent made out ⁠of tarp, while some people received treatment ‌in a tent outside a hospital in the port town of Maumere.

“I only brought my body,” Abdul Mutas, 63, said 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.

Fear of aftershocks

At a now-closed port ‌in Maumere, littered with debris from a collapsed roof and walls, residents said they were scared of aftershocks.

The disaster agency said on Sunday nearly 1,000 aftershocks had been recorded since the quake.

Nearby, hundreds of residents filled a sports stadium, which has been designated as an evacuation spot.

As ⁠the sun was setting, residents stood in line to get warm drinks. Some mothers hooked pieces of clothing to tent frames to form makeshift cradles for their babies. Other children played soccer outside.

Margaretha Movaldes Da Maga Bapa, head of the ‌region’s disaster mitigation agency, said the quake had brought back memories of the one residents experienced in 1992.

“We’ve had quakes often. But this one really brings back the trauma of the one from 1992,” she said, as aid such as food and tents filled her office in trucks.

Search efforts continue

Suryaman, a rescue ​agency official, said the priority was clearing rubble in the most-affected areas of Manggarai, East Manggarai and Nagekeo to find people possibly still trapped under ⁠rubble.

Suryaman said the agency had not received missing person reports but added that landslides and aftershocks were impeding the search.

Power supply was nearly fully restored, ​but authorities were still working on fixing distribution lines, state utility firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara said Sunday.

The East Nusa Tenggara ​government has declared an emergency for ⁠the province, BNPB said, a move that allows authorities to mobilize resources and funding.

Geology expert Dwikorita Karnawati said the region was at risk of earthquakes due to the “Flores back-arc thrust fault,” a major system of west-east thrust faults.

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.