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 (August 16, 2026).

Thirty-six ​people were seriously injured in the Saturday morning (August 15, 2026) 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 deadliest since a 2022 quake killed hundreds in West Java.

More than ‌3,300 people in the Sikka region self-evacuated or were 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.

“I ‌only brought my body,” Abdul Mutas, 63, told Reuters after he and his family slept on a tarp surrounded by trees in the town of Sikka. “The tides were rising, ‌so we ran,” he said, describing their reaction to the ​quake.

“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 reached parts of Maumere that had been blocked by landslides, Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said. There was no immediate count of those missing, but most of them 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.

Thousands await aid on Flores island 

Thousands of evacuees waited for help on Indonesia’s Flores island after the powerful earthquake damaged hundreds of houses and buildings.

Some 5,000 people fled their homes as the 7.7-magnitude quake hit the island early Saturday, followed by 341 aftershocks in the hours that followed, a spokesman for the BNPB national disaster agency, Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan, said.

People in some areas were left without electricity and telecommunications and at least one emergency access road remained inaccessible.

“We need food, drink, medicines, and diapers for the children,” Umri, a resident of Nangahale village on the north coast of Flores, told AFP

The 55-year-old, who like many Indonesians uses one name, has been hiding out on a hilltop for 24 hours with others afraid to return home.

Nurhidayati, also 55, spent the night on a mat on the same hill. “I’m still terrified; my heart is pounding hard remembering yesterday’s tremor… We just ran up here yesterday. I’m very scared now, still traumatised by the quake in 1992. I don’t dare to go home,” she said.

“I hope the government will soon distribute logistics to help us,” said Ms. Nurhidayati.

Mr. Berton said at least 101 Flores residents were reported injured.

“In addition to the loss of life, the offshore earthquake caused material losses that have paralysed residents’ daily activities,” he said in a statement on Sunday (August 16, 2026).

Survivors were in urgent need of assistance in the form of emergency tents, food, medicines, blankets, camp beds, mats, clean water and electricity generators, Mr. Berton added. The death toll rose by one from Saturday night to Sunday morning.

With Reuters, AFP inputs

Published – August 16, 2026 10:43 am IST

Rescuers inspect a heavily damaged building at L. Say port following an earthquake in Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, on August 15, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency via Reuters

The epicentre of the quake was located off the north coast of the Flores island, Indonesia, about 68 km northwest of Ende, USGS said. Representational image
| Photo Credit: deliormanli

An illustrative map showing the epicentre of the earthquake near Indonesian mainland. Photo: earthquake.usgs.gov

A man talks on his mobile phone near a building damaged in an earthquake in Palu, Central Sulawesi, on June 16, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

People ran from houses or to higher ground when the quake occurred and telecommunication networks in Nabire and several other towns in the region were cut off, agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said in a statement. Photo: USGS

Indonesia is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. Representational file image.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Indonesia, a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on major geological faults known as the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
| Photo Credit: AFP

A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia’s main island of Java on April 27, but there were no immediate reports of injury or significant property damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 102 kilometers (63 miles) south of Banjar city at a depth of 68.3 kilometers (42.4 miles). There was no tsunami warning.

High-rises in the capital Jakarta swayed for around a minute and two-story homes shook strongly in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung and in Jakarta’s satellite cities of Depok, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi. The quake was also felt in other cities in West Java, Yogyakarta and East Java province, according to Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency.

The agency warned of possible aftershocks.

Earthquakes are frequent across the sprawling archipelago nation, but they are rarely felt in Jakarta.

Indonesia, a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on major geological faults known as the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake in 2022 killed at least 602 people in West Java’s Cianjur city. It was the deadliest in Indonesia since a 2018 quake and tsunami in Sulawesi killed more than 4,300 people.

In 2004, an extremely powerful Indian Ocean quake set off a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia’s Aceh province.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck the Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province on Thursday, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.

The Indonesian geological agency (BMKG) pegged the magnitude at 6.3 with no tsunami potential. The epicentre of the quake was onshore and at a depth of 25 kilometers (15.5 miles), located 15 kilometres from the capital of East Nusa Tenggara province, Kupang.

The quake was strongly felt in several cities in the province, but there were no immediate reports of damages.

Hotel guests at Aston Hotel in Kupang were panicking when the quake hit, said Samuel Malohana, a hotel employee. Around 100 guests left their room and gathered in front of the hotel.

“But now most of them have come back to their room and no damages at the hotel,” Samuel said.

Head of the Earthquake and Tsunami Center of BMKG, Daryono, said he received report of light damages at the office of Kupang’s regional head.

Indonesia straddles the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire,” an area of high seismic activity that rests atop multiple tectonic plates. (Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru and Ananda Teresia in Jakarta; Editing by Diane Craft and Lisa Shumaker)

A shallow 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit near the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Saturday, the United States Geological Survey said, with no damage or casualties immediately reported.

The tremor hit at 9:43 p.m. local time (1443 GMT) at a depth of 9.9 kilometres, according to the USGS.

Indonesia’s geophysics agency (BMKG) reported no immediate tsunami but warned of possible aftershocks. It initially reported a magnitude of 6.3.

“I was having a good sleep (when the earthquake jolted). I jumped out of bed immediately,” said Qamariah, a 41-year-old housewife in Central Sulawesi’s Malei village.

“It felt like being shaken as if rice was being sifted. It went up and then down. It was really strong because I lived close to the epicentre. It lasted for about 5 seconds,” she told AFP.

She said the power was out in her area so she could not see if there was damage.

“I am outside (my house) right now, with family and my neighbours,” she added.

Video obtained by AFP showed panicking people in Central Sulawesi’s Lambonga village gathered in groups outside of their homes as they sought safety in fear of aftershocks.

“As of now, there have been no reports of damage and casualties caused by the earthquake,” the Palu Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.

“The residents of Balesang coastal village in Pabean, Donggala regency, have evacuated to higher ground, with the majority leaving their homes,” it added, referring to an area in Central Sulawesi.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

A 6.2-magnitude quake that shook Sulawesi island in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.

In 2018, a 7.5-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi killed more than 2,200 people.

And in 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake struck Aceh province, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia.

In November last year, a 5.6-magnitude quake hit the Southeast Asian nation’s Java island, killing 602 people.

Most of the victims of that earthquake were killed when buildings collapsed or in landslides triggered by the tremor.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the country’s Sumatra island in April, shaking homes of panicked residents but causing no casualties or damage.