SIKKA, Indonesia: Around 5,000 people have been evacuated after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake smashed an area in eastern Indonesia, killing at least 51, blocking roads and causing landslides, authorities said on Sunday (Aug 16).
Thirty-six people were seriously injured in the Saturday morning quake in East Nusa Tenggara province, while 77 had minor injuries, Deputy Health Minister Benjamin Paulus Octavianus told a televised meeting.
The quake, followed by some 341 aftershocks, is the Southeast Asian nation’s worst in years. Hundreds died after a 2022 earthquake in West Java.
More than 3,300 people in the Sikka region self-evacuated or were stranded in a sports arena, said the disaster mitigation agency BNPB.
Some Sikka residents were stranded outside collapsed homes under a makeshift tent made out of tarp, while some people received treatment in a tent outside a hospital in the port town of Maumere.
“Almost all of Sikka’s residents didn’t dare stay indoors, so they slept on a porch or a tent outside,” Simon Sabandi, deputy regent of Sikka, told news channel KompasTV.
More than 3,500 military and police officers have been deployed to the region, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said in a statement.
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