Magnitude 7.7 earthquake off Flores kills at least 51 in Indonesia
The quake struck the north coast of Flores at 5.58am local time on Saturday. More than 1,300 homes are damaged, about 5,000 people are displaced and over 230 aftershocks were recorded on day one.
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Flores early on Saturday, killing at least 51 people. The epicentre sat about 68 kilometres north-northwest of the town of Ende, in East Nusa Tenggara province, at 5.58am local time — figures recorded on the US Geological Survey’s event page for the quake.
The toll climbed through the weekend. It began at two confirmed deaths in the first hours, passed 38 and then 47, and reached 51 on Sunday as crews cleared roads blocked by landslides and reached villages that had been cut off.
What is known about the damage
More than 1,300 homes have been damaged and roughly 5,000 people displaced. Authorities counted 36 people seriously injured and another 77 with minor injuries. Over 230 aftershocks hit the island on the first day alone, the strongest at magnitude 6.2, repeatedly forcing search teams to pause.
Terrain is the obstacle. Flores is mountainous, its roads are few and narrow, and a quake of this size triggers landslides that close precisely the routes rescuers need. That is why officials keep warning the death toll is likely to rise.
An archipelago where this recurs
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the arc of trenches and volcanoes that accounts for most of the world’s seismic activity. The country’s disaster response is well practised, but its geography slows it down: more than 17,000 islands, many with no airport and reachable only by boat.
If you have family or travel plans in the region, the practical advice is the usual one — follow the national disaster management agency and do not trust casualty numbers circulating on social media before official confirmation. We made much the same point covering the death toll from the Venezuela earthquakes and their effect on the Portuguese community there: in the first 48 hours the totals change by the hour, and almost always for the worse.
Image: Ewesewes / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
