Two months after a shallow magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, families across East Nusa Tenggara face a long recovery. Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) put the death toll from the Flores earthquake at 142 as of September 15, with 1,776 people injured, 336 of them seriously. More than 188,161 people had been displaced as of August 31, according to the state news agency Antara.
The quake struck at 5:58 a.m. local time on August 15 at a depth of just 10 kilometres. The USGS measured it at magnitude 7.8, while local reports gave 7.7. Shaking reached intensity VIII on the Modified Mercalli scale in Manggarai, and damage extended across West and East Manggarai, Ngada, Nagekeo, Ende and Sikka, as well as Bima. A small tsunami with a maximum run-up of 2.68 metres damaged about 23 homes. Thousands of aftershocks followed, and some, on August 17 and August 19, were deadly.
The toll rose quickly in the first weeks, from 70 dead and more than 40,000 displaced on August 18 to 100 dead and more than 180,000 displaced on August 24. About 95,567 homes were damaged, 27,414 of them heavily. East Nusa Tenggara declared a 14-day emergency from August 15, the military and police deployed about 3,500 personnel, and hospital ships and BNPB airlifts delivered about 1,954 tonnes of aid. President Prabowo Subianto visited the affected area on August 26.
The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), part of the Red Cross Movement, has sent 33,947 relief items to affected communities. World Central Kitchen teams are serving meals to affected families, using motorcycles to reach families cut off around Bea Mese when the road became impassable by car, and the Global Empowerment Mission mobilized an immediate response through GEM Europe with the Royal Caribbean Group. You can find more groups that support earthquake relief and recovery in our list of disaster relief organizations.
To help families on Flores rebuild, visit the Flores Earthquake disaster page for ways to donate.
