Online Reporter
At least 14 people have been killed after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia early yesterday, the nation’s disaster mitigation agency has said.
BPBD said others had been injured to varying degrees, cautioning that the figures were preliminary while search and rescue operations were ongoing.
One local rescuer said at least 20 had been killed.
Buildings in the region have been damaged by the quake and the dozens of aftershocks that occurred.
The quake struck the island of Flores shortly before 5am local time yesterday.
It had a depth of 15 kilometres, Indonesia’s meteorology and geophysics agency stated.
The shallower an earthquake is, the more destructive its effects on the surface tend to be.
Strong aftershocks were felt in the same area, including one with a magnitude of 6.1.
Video taken at the port in Maumere showed large chunks of concrete breaking off the terminal building onto passengers waiting to board an inter-island ferry.
Some were thrown into the sea when the gangway to a ship collapsed.
Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, governor of East Nusa Tenggara province, told a news conference that they were killed in their sleep by collapsing rubble.
Arnold Welianto, who lives in Talibura, a village near the coastline in Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara, said he was awoken by the “very strong shaking”, adding: “I was startled awake and immediately went to my child’s room.”
He told the BBC that many people had already fled into the hills. – Wires
Bongani Ndlovu