Indonesia Quake Death Toll Hits 53 as Rescuers Search Flores After 7.7 Tremor
Updated
Updated · CNN · Aug 14
Indonesia Quake Death Toll Hits 53 as Rescuers Search Flores After 7.7 Tremor
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Aug 14
Summary
At least 53 people were confirmed dead after Saturday’s 7.7-magnitude quake off Flores, with rescuers digging through collapsed buildings for bodies and possible survivors.
More than 1,300 homes were damaged—over two-thirds severely—while health facilities, schools and government offices were also hit; hundreds of aftershocks followed and power and communications outages slowed searches.
Thousands were displaced and scores injured, with about 2,000 residents evacuated in Nagekeo regency and 50,000 aid packages being sent to the island.
Road crews reopened access to previously isolated villages after clearing most landslides, but Flores’s scattered island terrain is still complicating relief operations.
Indonesia, an archipelago on the Pacific Ring of Fire, is highly quake-prone; the latest disaster also came hours before separate 6.9 and 5.7 quakes struck elsewhere in the country.