Overview
- A shallow magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck off Flores early Saturday, producing numerous strong aftershocks and localized tsunami waves that prompted coastal evacuations.
- Officials have confirmed dozens of deaths with tallies rising through the weekend and hundreds injured while roughly 5,000 people were reported displaced or sheltering outdoors.
- Sea-level monitors recorded localized waves up to about 1.61 metres in parts of Flores even though the national tsunami warning was later lifted.
- National and local agencies deployed helicopters, rescue vessels and more than 3,500 military and police personnel, but landslides, blocked highways and outages are hampering search-and-rescue and damage surveys.
- Flores lies on Indonesia’s seismically active Ring of Fire, and officials warned aftershocks could continue for days while they assess collapsed homes, schools, clinics and disrupted fuel and power supplies.