Thousands evacuate after Indonesia quake kills 51, cuts roads

Around 5,000 people have been evacuated after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake ​smashed an area in eastern Indonesia, killing at least 51, blocking roads ‌and causing landslides, authorities said on Sunday.

Thirty-six people were seriously injured in the Saturday morning quake in East Nusa Tenggara province, while 77 had minor injuries, Deputy Health Minister Benjamin Paulus ​Octavianus told a televised meeting.

The quake, followed by some 341 aftershocks, is ​the Southeast Asian nation's worst in years. Hundreds died after a ⁠2022 earthquake in West Java.
More than 3,300 people in the Sikka region self-evacuated or ​were stranded in a sports arena, said the disaster mitigation agency BNPB.
Some Sikka residents ​were stranded outside collapsed homes under a makeshift tent made out of tarp, while some people received treatment in a tent outside a hospital in the port town of Maumere.
"Almost all of ​Sikka's residents didn't dare stay indoors, so they slept on a porch or ​a tent outside," Simon Subandi, deputy regent of Sikka, told news channel KompasTV.

More than 3,500 military ‌and ⁠police officers have been deployed to the region, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said in a statement.
Rescuers were able to access parts of Maumere that had been blocked by landslides, Indonesia's search and rescue agency said. Most of those missing were ​trapped under rubble, and ​more than 1,300 ⁠homes were damaged, BNPB said.
Twenty petrol stations were not operational due to power outages, said state energy firm Pertamina.
The East ​Nusa Tenggara government is considering declaring an emergency for the ​province, BNPB ⁠said, which would allow authorities to mobilise resources and funding.
The area of the quake was hit in 1992 by a magnitude-7.5 earthquake that caused extensive destruction, Indonesia's geophysics agency ⁠said.
Indonesia, ​a sprawling archipelago of 290 million people, straddles the "Pacific ​Ring of Fire", a seismically active zone where tectonic plates meet, triggering frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

-Reuters