A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's Flores Island early Saturday, killing at least 47 people, destroying homes, and triggering a tsunami warning that was later lifted.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 5:58am local time, with its epicentre about 68 kilometres north-northwest of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province. More than 230 aftershocks followed, the strongest measuring magnitude 6.2, while a separate magnitude 6.9 quake also struck Indonesia's Sumatra island later the same day.
Officials said the quake flattened at least 157 houses, damaged nearly 200 more, and destroyed over 100 public facilities including schools and medical centres, forcing roughly 2,000 people to flee to temporary shelters. Search and rescue efforts have been hampered by landslides that blocked roads and cut off remote villages. Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is one of the world's most seismically active nations; the same coastline was struck by a similarly powerful quake in 1992 that killed more than 2,500 people.