A powerful shallow earthquake struck Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, unleashing destructive surface impacts and triggering mass panic across coastal towns. Shallow quakes are typically far more damaging, and this one was followed by strong aftershocks, including a magnitude 6.1 tremor that rattled the same region.
At the port in Maumere, dramatic video showed chunks of concrete breaking off the terminal building and crashing down onto passengers waiting to board an inter‑island ferry. The gangway to one vessel collapsed, throwing several people into the sea amid the chaos.
In Talibura, a coastal village in Sikka, resident Arnold Welianto said he woke to “very strong shaking” and immediately ran to check on his child. He told the BBC that many villagers fled into the hills, fearing a tsunami. “Some other residents were standing along the roadside because the sea had also receded,” he said. “The water remained low for quite some time, so everyone panicked and ran.
Local health centres evacuated staff and patients as precautionary alarms sounded across the district.
Authorities issued a tsunami warning, prompting streams of people to move inland on motorbikes. Indonesia’s disaster agency BNPB said around 2,000 people evacuated or relocated on their own. The warning was lifted roughly three hours later after no significant sea‑level rise was detected.
BNPB confirmed three fatalities and ongoing assessments of structural damage across Sikka and surrounding areas.
+ There are no comments
Add yours