7.7 Quake Off Indonesia Triggers Tsunami Warning
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- U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off Indonesia's Flores region at 5:58 a.m. local time Saturday, at a depth of 10 kilometers, with the epicenter 68 km (42 miles) north-northwest of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province.
- Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency issued a tsunami warning covering parts of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, and Southeast Sulawesi provinces, urging residents to stay away from beaches and riverbanks and move to higher ground.
- The initial quake was followed by several aftershocks and was felt across much of Flores Island, where early reports indicated damage to homes and public facilities, though officials had not yet released casualty estimates.
- Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka regency, told reporters that buildings were damaged by strong shaking and panicked people ran to higher ground; she said the waiting room at the Pelni port terminal in Maumere had collapsed.
- Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" — an arc of volcanoes and fault lines — making it prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.
- A December 1992 magnitude 7 earthquake caused a tsunami that killed about 2,500 people on the southeastern island of Flores, a historical parallel the source draws to the current event.
Why it matters: The shallow 10-kilometer depth and undersea location near Flores mirror the conditions of a 1992 magnitude-7 quake on the same island that killed roughly 2,500 people. With tsunami warnings spanning four provinces and structural damage confirmed, officials are monitoring coastal tide gauges while thousands of residents shelter on higher ground.
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