Parts of eastern Indonesia were devastated by a magnitude-7.7 earthquake that killed at least 51 people, blocked highways, and caused landslides. Authorities announced on Sunday that about 5,000 people had been evacuated.
At a televised meeting, Deputy Health Minister Benjamin Paulus Octavianus stated that 77 persons had mild injuries and 36 had critical injuries from the Saturday morning earthquake in East Nusa Tenggara region.
With about 341 aftershocks, the earthquake is the deadliest in Southeast Asia since a West Javan earthquake in 2022 claimed hundreds of lives. According to the disaster mitigation organization BNPB, about 3,300 persons in the Sikka region either self-evacuated or were in a sports stadium.
While some Sikka residents were treated in a tent outside a hospital in the port town of Maumere, others were left trapped outside of destroyed homes beneath an improvised tent made of tarp.
According to a statement from Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya, around 3,500 police and military personnel have been sent to the area.
Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, rescuers were able to reach areas of Maumere that had been blocked by landslides. The majority of the missing were buried beneath debris, and over 1,300 residences were damaged, according to BNPB, however there was no quick count of the missing.
State energy company Pertamina said that twenty gas stations were not running because of power shortages.
According to BNPB, the East Nusa Tenggara government is thinking of declaring an emergency for the region in order to mobilize funds and resources. According to Indonesia’s geophysics office, a magnitude-7.5 earthquake struck the region in 1992, causing significant damage.
The “Pacific Ring of Fire” is a seismically active region where tectonic plates collide, causing regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Indonesia is a vast archipelago home to 290 million people.
Also Read – Grim Flood Crisis In Odisha: 2.7 Lakh People Hit, Over 95,000 Evacuated