At least fourteen people have been killed after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Flores island early on Saturday.
Search and rescue teams are combing through rubble to free people believed to be trapped in damaged buildings.
The governor of East Nusa Tenggara province, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, said five victims died in their sleep.
The main earthquake was followed by several aftershocks, including one measuring 6.1 in magnitude.
Indonesia’s government issued a tsunami warning after the quake, prompting residents near the coast to flee inland. The warning was lifted around 8am local time, about three hours after the main tremor.
The Indonesian agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics said the earthquake struck at a depth of 15km.
Concrete reportedly fell from a terminal building at Maumere port, while some passengers waiting to board an inter-island ferry were thrown into the sea after a gangway collapsed.
Around 2,000 residents were evacuated in Nagekeo, where several buildings were damaged.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency, BNPB, urged residents to avoid entering buildings with cracks or structural damage as authorities carried out a rapid assessment of casualties and damage.
Arnold Welianto, a resident of Talibura village in Sikka, said people woke to very strong shaking and fled towards higher ground after noticing the sea had receded.
