A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Flores island in Indonesia early Saturday, killing at least two persons and damaging buildings and homes.
The quake, which also triggered a brief tsunami warning, hit the Flores region with a depth of 10 kilometres at 5:58 am Indonesia time and the epicentre was 68 km north-northwest of the city of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province, as per the US Geological Survey.
“People were panicking, running here and there. No one was harmed,” he added. People evacuated from a building collapse at Jayakarta hotel following an earthquake of magnitude 7.7, in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia Photo Credit: REUTERS The tsunami warning was later lifted.
We’re evacuating for the time being… and trying to get to the hills,” he said, adding: “My family is safe. “We strongly urge our communities along the northern coast of Flores and in the southern parts, on the southern islands and across the southern region, to carry out self-evacuation immediately,” Abdul Muhari, an official at the national disaster agency, BNPB, said. Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, and neighbouring countries experience frequent earthquakes due to their location in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” — an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
