Thousands evacuate after Indonesia quake kills 51, cuts roads

SIKKA, Indonesia - Approximately 5,000 individuals were evacuated following a magnitude-7.7 earthquake that struck an area in eastern Indonesia, resulting in at least 51 fatalities, obstructing roads, and triggering landslides, according to authorities on Sunday. Thirty-six people sustained severe injuries during the Saturday morning quake in East Nusa Tenggara province, while 77 experienced minor injuries, Deputy Health Minister Benjamin Paulus Octavianus stated during a televised press conference.

The earthquake, followed by around 341 aftershocks, marks the deadliest disaster in Southeast Asia since a 2022 quake that claimed hundreds of lives in West Java. Over 3,300 people in the Sikka region either chose to evacuate or sought refuge in a sports arena, reported the disaster mitigation agency BNPB. Some residents of Sikka were stranded outside collapsed homes under makeshift tents constructed from tarps, while some individuals received medical care under a tent near a hospital in the port town of Maumere.

One resident, Abdul Mutas, 63, expressed his harrowing experience to Reuters, stating that he and his family slept on a tarp amidst trees in the town of Sikka, recounting their frantic response to the quake and rising tides.