Indonesia earthquake death toll rises to 53 on Flores

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Indonesia's Flores island has killed 53 people, injured 135 and left about 5,000 evacuees needing aid, Indonesia's BNPB national disaster agency said Sunday.

Officials said the quake struck early Saturday and was followed by nearly 1,000 aftershocks of varying intensity. Some areas were left without electricity and telecommunications, and at least one emergency access road remained inaccessible. BNPB said there were no reports of missing persons.

Residents in Nangahale village on Flores' north coast said they needed food, water, medicines and supplies for children after spending a day on a hilltop, afraid to return home.

In Kisol village, Bertolomeus Tiga said his house was one of several that collapsed and that part of a local church had also come down. He said police had collected data but aid had not yet arrived there, and that villagers were still taking refuge outside because they feared damaged buildings.

BNPB head Suharyanto said at least five helicopters, several planes, a naval vessel and search-and-rescue ships were on their way to help. Rescue officials said survivors urgently needed emergency tents, food, medicines, blankets, camp beds, mats, clean water and electricity generators.

The Indonesian government sent 50,000 aid packages weighing a total of 275 tonnes to the area. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said preparations were under way to bring aid to thousands of people in temporary shelters, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered help from the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation satellites.

Geological authorities said the shallow quake's epicentre was just off the island's north coast. BNPB spokesman Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan said at least 914 houses were severely damaged and hundreds of others suffered lesser damage. He said public facilities were also affected, including 93 educational facilities, 36 health facilities and 38 government offices.

In Ruteng, about 200 kilometres from the worst-hit part of the island, AFP journalists saw heavy machinery clearing rubble from a street on Sunday. Hospital spokeswoman Yohana Raisita Damalia Mari said the local hospital had been badly damaged and patients were moved to tents outside. She said a woman underwent an emergency C-section in an intact storage room converted into a temporary operating theatre, and that both the patient and her baby were safe.

Herybertus Geradus Laju Nabit, mayor of Manggarai regency, said it was impossible to predict when aftershocks would end and urged residents to stay vigilant.

After the quake, Flores residents ran for the hills as the sea retreated, a possible sign of an approaching tsunami. A tsunami warning was later lifted, but authorities urged people not to return to damaged buildings because aftershocks could bring them down. Indonesia's BMKG geological agency reported waves of up to 1.6 metres in some coastal areas.

Indonesia has frequent earthquakes because it lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Flores was struck by a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in 1992 that triggered a tsunami and killed about 2,500 people.