A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's Flores Island early Saturday, killing two people and prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the quake hit at 5:58 am local time (21:58 GMT Friday), with its epicenter located approximately 68 kilometers (42 miles) north-northwest of the city of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province. The depth was recorded at 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

Within half an hour, three aftershocks followed, measuring magnitudes 5.9, 5.6, and 6.1. In a press statement, Indonesia's national disaster agency, BNPB, confirmed that two people—a man and a woman—died at the L Say Maumere port, and another person was injured. Local media footage showed extensive damage to buildings, including at the port, with the Maumere region suffering severe impact.

Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) issued a tsunami warning for affected coastlines, urging residents to stay away from beaches and riverbanks and move to higher ground. Abdul Muhari, a BNPB official, said: "We strongly urge our communities along the northern coast of Flores and in the southern parts, on the southern islands and across the southern region, to carry out self-evacuation immediately." Speaking to local broadcaster Kompas TV, Muhari urged residents to "move away from the shore, either by going more than two kilometers inland or by moving up into hilly areas more than 10 meters [33 feet] high."

Australia's tsunami warning center said the quake posed no threat to the Australian mainland, its islands, or territories. USGS estimates suggest that more than half a million people on Flores Island are likely to have experienced very strong shaking, with moderate to strong shaking felt by several million more people across the wider region. Local authorities said they were continuing to monitor the situation and assess the risk of further aftershocks in the hours ahead.

Indonesia, a nation of more than 270 million people spread across roughly 17,000 islands, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is one of the world's most seismically active countries. The same stretch of coastline was struck by a similarly powerful earthquake in December 1992, when the quake and the tsunami it triggered killed more than 2,500 people on Flores.

Source: www.aljazeera.com