Rescuers evacuate a victim after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Maumere, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, Saturday. At least 47 people are dead. Photo by BASARNAS Handout/EPA
Aug. 15 (UPI) — A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit Indonesia early Saturday has killed 47 people so far, authorities said.
Disaster mitigation agency BNBP said that as of 6:48 p.m. local time Saturday the death toll was 47, including 24 in Manggarai Regency, 17 in East Manggara, three in Sikka, one in West Manggarai, one in Ngada and one in Ende.
About 50 people were injured and about 2,000 have been evacuated.
The quake struck around 5 a.m. local time with an epicenter of 40 miles northwest of the city of Ende, located on the southern coast of Flores Island. Ende is about 1,000 miles east of Jakarta.
There was an initial tsunami warning, but it was lifted. People have reported seeing waves about 3 feet tall.
The quake is one of the largest to hit the area in more than 30 years, said Wijayanto, the director of earthquake and tsunami affairs at the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency in Indonesia. He goes by one name.
“An earthquake like this occurred in 1992 with a magnitude of 7.5, causing immense damage,” Wijayanto said in a statement.
BNBP reported that 157 houses were severely damaged, 41 moderately damaged and 148 lightly damaged. Public facilities damaged include 87 educational facilities, 18 health facilities, five places of worship, six offices and several other public facilities.
The agency posted a notification on Instagram.
“We have coordinated with local authorities and deployed a rapid response team to the field to accelerate evacuation efforts,” the post said. “I urge the public to remain calm, avoid buildings with cracks or structural damage, stay alert for potential aftershocks, and monitor official information and instructions from BMKG and BNPB channels for everyone’s safety. Our top priority is the safety of the people.”
Theresia Uta, 52, told CNN she had just finished breakfast in the coastal town of Maumere when the earthquake hit. She said she ran outside and held onto a tree in the yard until the shaking stopped, for about 10 minutes.
“Although I have experienced several earthquakes on Flores island before, this was by far the strongest and longest earthquake I have ever experienced. The shaking was extremely powerful and violent,” she said.
Arnold Welianto, who lives in Talibura, in Sikka, told the BBC he was awakened by “very strong shaking.”
“I was startled awake and immediately went to my child’s room.”
He said many people had already fled into the hills.
“Some other residents were standing along the roadside because the sea had also receded,” he said. “The water remained low for quite some time, so everyone panicked and ran. I went around to the community health center, and the people there had already been evacuated.”
Hours later, a 6.9 magnitude quake hit the country in Northern Sumatra, CNN reported the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Indonesia is an archipelago with about 17,500 islands. It’s in an area known as the Ring of Fire, an area where 75% of the Earth’s volcanoes are, and 90% of the earthquakes hit.
More than 2,000 people were killed in 2018 when a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit.
Saturday’s quake comes four days after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Colombia, killing 273 people on Aug. 10.
On June 24, two earthquakes killed more than 6,000 people in Venezuela.
