At least 38 people have died after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Flores Island early Saturday, authorities said.
The quake took place just before 5 a.m. local time and according to the U.S. Geological Survey was centered in waters north of the island, some 1,000 miles east of the capital Jakarta. Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is a hot spot for tectonic activity due to the convergence of the Australian and Sunda tectonic plates.
Saturday’s earthquake was centered offshore at a depth of around 6 miles, according to USGS, and was followed by several aftershocks. Around 1.5 million people were exposed to strong to severe shaking, the agency estimated.
A tsunami warning led residents to evacuate several coastal areas but has since been lifted, Indonesian authorities said.
The head of Indonesia’s National Disaster Management agency (BNBP), Lt. Gen. Suharyanto, who goes by one name as is common in Indonesia, said at least 38 bodies had been recovered, mostly in the areas of Sikka, Manggarai and East Manggarai, according to the Associated Press.
At least 16 bodies were pulled from a landslide in one village, and 13 people had been taken to nearby hospitals, including two with serious injuries, he added in televised remarks on Saturday. The earthquake also collapsed buildings and disrupted communication channels and road access, authorities said.
BNBP said in an earlier statement that Suharyanto would travel to the affected region.
Emergency teams have also been deployed to support local authorities in assessing the damage, treating victims and helping those affected, the agency added. Rescue efforts are expected to be complicated by the remote locations and island geography.
Some 2,000 people have been evacuated from the island’s Nagekeo area as a precaution and the public has been urged to remain vigilant as aftershocks continue.
Indonesia is an archipelago of some 17,500 islands and is prone to earthquakes and volcanoes. Since 1950, there have been 37 other earthquakes of a magnitude 6 or greater, including a 7.8-magnitude quake and tsunami in 1992 which killed at least 2,500 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes, according to USGS.
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