Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Flores region early on Saturday, collapsing buildings and homes, killing at least five people and triggering panic in an area prone to deadly quakes. Authorities issued a tsunami warning and asked coastal residents to move to higher ground, but later withdrew it after Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said monitoring showed no significant sea-level changes.
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The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres at 5.58 am local time. Its epicentre was 68 km north-northwest of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province. The initial quake was followed by several aftershocks, and reports from Flores and nearby areas indicated heavy damage.
East Nusa Tenggara police chief Rudi Darmoko said preliminary reports showed two deaths in Sikka Regency and three in Manggarai Regency after the quake caused severe damage and collapsed buildings. He said power cuts in towns and villages had slowed the flow of information and made search and rescue work more difficult. “We are continuing to collect reports of damages and casualties, but there are communication disruptions,” Darmoko said.
Local television footage showed patients being moved out of several hospitals as a precaution after the quake. Hospital staff shifted beds, IV stands and oxygen cylinders outdoors and set up temporary treatment areas to continue care under emergency conditions. The quake was felt across much of Flores island. Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka Regency, said several buildings were damaged and panicked residents ran to higher ground. “Many buildings here were damaged … I saw that the waiting room at the port terminal in Maumere had collapsed,” she said.
At St. Peter Major Seminary in Sikka, students attending morning Mass ran out in panic when the roof of an assembly hall gave way, said the Rev. Guidelbertus Tanga, rector of the seminary, known locally as Ritapiret Seminary. “Our students and nuns ran out in panic beneath a collapsing roof,” Tanga said. “At least one priest suffered a broken leg after jumping from the second floor of a building during the quake.” The quake also reportedly caused panic in Bima in neighbouring West Nusa Tenggara province, while damage was also reported in parts of southern Sulawesi island. Indonesian authorities had initially issued the tsunami warning for parts of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi provinces, and urged people to stay away from beaches and riverbanks.
Indonesia is vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it lies on the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Basin. A powerful quake caused a tsunami on Flores in 1992, killing about 2,500 people. In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 quake and a localised tsunami killed more than 4,400 people in Palu, while a massive offshore quake in 2010 sent a three-metre wave into the Mentawai Islands, killing more than 400 people. In December 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries. Saturday’s quake once again brought deaths, damage, evacuations and fear to a country long exposed to such disasters.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
