Strong 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes eastern Indonesia, killing at least five

A powerful 7.7-magnitude quake struck eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, killing at least five people, causing widespread panic and collapsing buildings and homes in a region prone to deadly earthquakes.

Authorities had issued a tsunami warning, which has since been lifted, but there have been dozens of aftershocks, including one with a magnitude of 6.1.

Tsunami waves of ⁠less than one metre (three feet) were recorded in several areas.

Indonesian geophysics agency BMKG recorded the first quake at 4.58 am local time at a depth of 15 ⁠km (9 miles) in Indonesia’s Flores region.

The governor of East Nusa ⁠Tenggara province, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, told a press conference the five people died after rubble fell on them as they slept.

The national disaster mitigation agency BNPB put the ‌toll at one dead and four ‌injured.

A video on Facebook, verified by Reuters as being at a port in Maumere, shows parts of a building collapsed into dust and rubble as people scream and run in the street. Maumere is the main town in Sikka Regency on Flores Island in the east of Indonesia’s vast archipelago.

The epicentre of the quake was located off the north coast of Flores island, about 68km (42 miles) northwest of the coastal town of Ende, US and Indonesian authorities said.

Residents in Nagekeo regency, the area closest to the epicentre, raced for higher ground immediately after the earthquake.

“Suddenly it started to shake and I panicked,” 31-year-old hospital customer service official, Lukas Lotar told AFP. “Patients also fled the hospital, the jolt was big. I saw some walls were cracked,” he added.

People flee their homes to seek safety after a earthquake

Nagekeo resident Yohanes Babo, 56, said he was at a market when the quake hit.

“The shaking was strong. Thankfully, we were already outside the house,” he said.

“People were panicking, running here and there. We’re evacuating for the time being … and trying to get to the hills,” he said, adding: “My family is safe. No one was harmed.”

Authorities issued a tsunami warning but later lifted it when Indonesia’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG) said monitoring showed no significant sea level changes that would pose a threat to coastal communities.

Images broadcast on Indonesian television showed hundreds of people in nearby Nagekeo regency evacuating the area surrounded by the rubble of damaged buildings.

The quake was felt across much of Flores island with initial reports indicating heavy damage.

Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka, a regency within East Nusa Tenggara province, said a number of buildings were damaged by the strong shaking and panicked people 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.

Indonesia, home to more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because of its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

*With Agence France-Presse and Reuters

The Guardian wp:paragraph