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Indonesia Quakes Kill 40 on Flores, Prompting Tsunami Alerts
Magnitude 7.7 quake leaves 40 dead on Flores and triggers evacuations; a 6.9 shakes Sumatra hours later as Indonesia confronts El Nino risk.
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A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off Indonesia's Flores island around 6 a.m. local time Saturday, killing at least 40 people and damaging scores of buildings, the US Geological Survey said. The quake triggered a tsunami warning that was later lifted.
Ende, near the epicenter, is about 500 miles east of Bali and roughly twice that distance from Jakarta. About 13 hours later, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake jolted Pematangsiantar in North Sumatra, about 830 miles northwest of Jakarta. No casualties or damage were initially reported from the Sumatra temblor.
At least 52 aftershocks followed the main temblor, with magnitudes from 3.6 to 6.2, the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said. The agency issued a tsunami warning for nearby coastlines and urged some residents to evacuate, then lifted it after the threat passed. Emergency authorities evacuated roughly 2,000 residents and moved patients and equipment out of several hospitals. Seventy homes were damaged, from severe to light, and at least 50 injuries have been reported, said Fathur Rahman, head of the search and rescue office in Maumere.