A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia early Saturday, collapsing buildings, killing at least 20 people, and triggering a temporary tsunami warning that caused widespread panic in the region. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the quake hit the Flores region at 5:58 a.m. local time, with its epicenter located 42 miles north-northwest of the city of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province. The initial tremor was followed by several aftershocks.
In the immediate aftermath, authorities issued a tsunami warning and urged coastal residents to evacuate to higher ground. However, the warning was later lifted after Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency monitored sea levels and determined there were no significant changes posing a threat to coastal communities.
East Nusa Tenggara Police Chief Rudi Darmoko stated that preliminary reports indicated two deaths in Sikka Regency and three in Manggarai Regency, where the earthquake caused severe structural damage. Search and rescue efforts, as well as the transmission of critical updates, have been significantly hampered by widespread power outages and communication disruptions in both cities and villages. "We are continuing to collect reports of damages and casualties, but there are communication disruptions," Darmoko said.
The tremor also forced precautionary evacuations at multiple hospitals. Local television footage showed hospital staff moving patients and essential medical equipment, including beds, IV stands, and oxygen cylinders, outdoors to establish temporary treatment areas under emergency conditions.
In Sikka Regency, resident Yohanna Embu described scenes of panic as people fled to higher ground. "Many buildings here were damaged … I saw that the waiting room at the port terminal in Maumere had collapsed," she said. Meanwhile, at St. Peter Major Seminary—locally known as Ritapiret Seminary on the predominantly Catholic island of Flores—students and nuns fled in panic when the roof of an assembly hall collapsed during morning Mass. "Our students and nuns ran out in panic beneath a collapsing roof," said the Rev. Guidelbertus Tanga, the seminary's rector. He noted that at least one priest suffered a broken leg after jumping from the second floor of a building to escape the shaking.
The earthquake also triggered panic in Bima, a city in the neighboring West Nusa Tenggara province, and caused damage in parts of southern Sulawesi island.
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