A magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck eastern Indonesia on Saturday killed at least 47 people, a disaster management official said, revising an earlier toll. A second magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck the western island of Sumatra later, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Authorities said dozens more residents were injured and warned that the death toll would almost certainly rise. Authorities issued a tsunami warning and urged coastal residents to move to higher ground, but later lifted the warning when Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said monitoring showed no significant changes in sea level that could pose a threat to coastal communities. The Geological Survey said the earthquake struck the Indonesian region of Flores at 5:58 a.m. local time. Its epicenter was 42 miles northwest of the city of Ende, in East Nusa Tenggara province. The weather agency said the quake was followed by at least 235 aftershocks, the largest on record at a magnitude of 6.2. Damaged houses are seen following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Ruteng, Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, on August 15, 2026. SELO /AFP via Getty Images National Disaster Management Agency chief Suharyanto said rescuers have recovered at least 47 bodies, mainly in Sikka, Manggarai and East Manggarai, and at least 50 people were taken to hospitals. who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name, said the earthquake leveled at least 157 houses and damaged nearly 200 more, forcing about 2,000 villagers to abandon their homes and move to temporary shelters. East Nusa Tenggara police chief Rudi Darmoko said the earthquake caused severe damage and collapsed buildings. He said power outages in cities and towns have hampered the flow of information and complicated search and rescue efforts. “We continue to collect reports on damage and casualties, but there are interruptions in communications,” Darmoko said. He said landslides in Ende regency triggered by the earthquake also cut off the Trans-Flores Highway, a roughly 435-mile paved mountain road that runs through Flores Island, from Labuan Bajo to Larantuka. The powerful tremor also destroyed more than 100 public facilities, including schools, medical centers and churches. “I have never felt such a big earthquake,” said Yulian Juita Ekalia, who lives in the town of Ruteng, more than 60 miles west of the epicenter. AFP “It seemed like we were on a trampoline; it was very scary,” said the 37-year-old university professor. “As I was running to get out, everything in the house fell: the television, my son’s trophies, the dish drainers, the suitcases on top of the closets. When I came out, my son and the neighbors were already there, screaming in fear.” The death toll could rise because landslides triggered by the earthquake buried or isolated many remote villages in six regencies on Flores island, said Fathur Rahman, director of the Search and Rescue Office in Maumere, the capital of Sikka. Indonesian military and rescue personnel search through the rubble of a damaged building following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Indonesia, August 15, 2026. Basarnas / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images Local television footage showed patients from several hospitals being evacuated from buildings as a precaution following the earthquake. Hospital staff moved equipment outdoors, including beds, IV poles and oxygen cylinders, and set up temporary treatment areas to accommodate emergency conditions. The National Disaster Management Agency deployed a helicopter to assist with logistics and support emergency response operations, including possible evacuations if necessary, the agency said in a statement. Air support is considered crucial given the geography of East Nusa Tenggara, which consists of numerous islands and presents significant transportation and access challenges. He said around 2,000 villagers in Nagekeo regency fled their homes for temporary shelters. View of a heavily damaged building at L. Say port following an earthquake in Maumere, Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, August 15, 2026. Stringer/REUTERS Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity due to its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific basin. Notably, a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami in 1992 that killed about 2,500 people in Flores, part of a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia, while in 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake generated a large localized tsunami that devastated coastal areas and killed more than 4,400 people. In December 2004, a massive 9.1 magnitude earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
