Indonesia earthquake kills 48 as Flores awaits aid

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Indonesia's Flores island has killed 48 people and left thousands of evacuees waiting for aid, officials said Sunday.

Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan, a spokesman for the BNPB national disaster agency, said about 5,000 people fled their homes after the quake struck early Saturday. He said at least 101 Flores residents were reported injured and 341 aftershocks followed in the hours after the tremor.

Some areas were left without electricity and telecommunications, and at least one emergency access road remained inaccessible. Residents in Nangahale village told AFP they needed food, water, medicines and supplies for children after spending the night on a hill, afraid to return home.

Berton said survivors urgently needed emergency tents, food, medicines, blankets, camp beds, mats, clean water and electricity generators. He said the death toll rose by one from Saturday night to Sunday morning.

Local search and rescue official Fathur Rahman told AFP there were no reports of people buried or missing, and that teams were combing the search area.

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

The East Nusa Tenggara provincial government, which includes Flores, is processing a decree to establish a 14-day emergency response status, Berton said. 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 Saturday that preparations were under way to bring aid to thousands of people in temporary shelters. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered help from the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation satellites to support search and rescue efforts.

After the quake, 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.

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