Magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes off coast of Indonesia and tsunami warning issued
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- The earthquake hit Indonesia's Flores region at 5:58 a.m. local time with a depth of 10 km and an epicenter 68 km north-northwest of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, followed by several aftershocks.
- Rudi Darmoko, East Nusa Tenggara police chief, reported two fatalities in Sikka Regency and three in Manggarai Regency, noting power outages and communication disruptions were hampering search and rescue efforts.
- The tsunami warning was issued for parts of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, and Southeast Sulawesi provinces, and later lifted after Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency detected no significant sea-level changes.
- The quake's damage was visible across Flores island: hospital patients were evacuated as buildings shook, the waiting room at Maumere's port terminal collapsed, and the roof of an assembly hall at St. Peter Major Seminary (Ritapiret Seminary) gave way during morning Mass, sending students and nuns fleeing in panic.
- The shaking was widely felt, reaching Bima in neighboring West Nusa Tenggara province and parts of southern Sulawesi island, well beyond the epicenter.
- Indonesia's seismic risk is rooted in its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" — a 1992 tsunami killed about 2,500 people on Flores alone, and a 2018 magnitude 7.5 quake-tsunami in Palu killed more than 4,400 people.
Why it matters: At least five people are confirmed dead on Flores as power outages and communication breakdowns slow damage assessments across multiple regencies and islands. The shallow 10-km depth and proximity to densely populated coastlines amplify the destruction potential in a region where a 1992 tsunami already killed 2,500 people.
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