A magnitude-7.7 earthquake hit off the coast of Indonesia in the eastern Flores region, the United States Geological Survey reported on Friday.
The epicenter was 68 kms (42 miles) north-northwest of the city of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province.
Rescuers around the port town of Maumere found 20 dead, six injured and two trapped under the rubble, Fathur Rahman, head of the city’s rescue agency, told Reuters. Maumere is the main town in Sikka Regency on Flores Island in the east of Indonesia’s vast archipelago.
Teams have yet to reach Nagekeo, the region closest to the epicentre, and communications signals there had been affected, Fathur said. Attempts to reach Nagekeo by car were blocked by landslides, while another team was attempting to go by ferry, he said.
Footage on local television showed patients at several hospitals being evacuated from buildings as a precaution following the quake. Hospital staff moved equipment outdoors, including beds, IV stands and oxygen cylinders, and set up temporary treatment areas to adapt to emergency conditions.
The quake was felt across much of Flores island with initial reports indicating heavy damage.
Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka regency, said a number of buildings were damaged by the strong shaking and panicked people ran to higher ground.
“Many buildings here were damaged ... I saw that the waiting room at the port terminal in Maumere had collapsed,” she said.
Indonesian authorities initially issued a tsunami warning for parts of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi provinces, and urged residents to stay away from beaches and riverbanks, and residents on the coastline to move to higher ground. The agency located the shallow undersea quake near Flores island.
The initial quake was followed by two aftershocks.
Yohanna Embu, a resident of Sikka, a regency within East Nusa Tenggara province, said a number of buildings were damaged by the strong shaking and panicked people ran to higher ground.
“Many buildings here were damaged ... I saw that the waiting room at the Pelni port terminal in Maumere had collapsed,” she said.
Students at St. Peter Major Seminary in Sikka who were attending morning Mass fled in panic when the roof of an assembly hall collapsed, said the Rev. Guidelbertus Tanga, rector of the seminary, which is known locally as Ritapiret Seminary on the predominantly Catholic island of Flores.
“Our students and nuns ran out in panic beneath a collapsing roof,” Tanga said, “At least one priest suffered a broken leg after jumping from the second floor of a building during the quake.”
Separately, Australia’s tsunami warning center said the undersea earthquake will have “no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, islands or territories.”
Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
In December of 1992, a magnitude 7 earthquake caused a tsunami that killed about 2,500 people on the southeastern island of Flores, part of a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia.
The latest quake comes after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake rocked western Colombia on Monday, causing widespread damage.
In June, deadly back-to-back earthquakes, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, killed more than 6,000 people in Venezuela, according to government figures.
