Un séisme de magnitude 7,7 fait au moins 40 morts en Indonésie

Saturday, 15 August 2026 began with the earth violently buckling beneath eastern Indonesia as a shallow, 7.7-magnitude earthquake erupted at 05h58 local time. Centered 68 kilometers from the city of Ende in the province of Nusa Tenggara Oriental according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the powerful tremor shattered facades, cracked hospital walls, and sent residents fleeing into the streets in absolute panic. On Flores island, thousands of coastal inhabitants scrambled on foot toward higher ground, fearing a destructive inundation while emergency responders faced an immediate geographic bottleneck: landslides had buried and severed the vital roadways required to reach the disaster zone, as reported by outlets including Ledevoir and leparisien.fr.

The human toll escalated as search operations progressed throughout the day. While initial agency reports and outlets such as letelegramme.fr and cnews.fr cited 38 fatalities, the National Disaster Management Agency subsequently confirmed that the death toll had reached at least 40 dead, alongside 50 injured. Suharyanto, the chief of the disaster management agency, specified during a press conference reported by 20min that two individuals were gravely hurt and 11 sustained light injuries, while roughly 2,000 residents evacuated their homes on their own initiative. Fathur Rahman, a rescue official, noted that teams were concentrating their efforts on individuals buried beneath rubble.

Related YouTube video

Inside the impact zone, the ground's sudden motion disrupted institutional and daily life without warning. Lukas Lotar, a hospital patient management service head, described fleeing alongside terrified patients as structural walls fractured under the strain. In Ruteng, located about 158 kilometers west of the epicenter, 37-year-old Yulian Juita Ekalia recounted that the violent shaking felt akin to standing on a trampoline.

"Alors que je me précipitais dehors, tout est tombé dans la maison: la télévision, les trophées de mon fils, les égouttoirs à vaisselle, les valises posées au-dessus des armoires. Quand je suis sortie, mon fils et mon voisins étaient déjà dehors, hurlant de peur"

Yulian Juita Ekalia, Resident of Ruteng, via ledevoir.com and leparisien.fr

In the market town of Maumere on Flores, Yohanes Babo recalled how patrons panicked and ran in all directions as the earth shook, leaving him and his family to evacuate toward elevated terrain.

Following the primary tremor, authorities issued an urgent tsunami alert for the Nusa Tenggara Oriental, Nusa Tenggara Occidental, and South Sulawesi provinces, warning of potential waves ranging from half a meter to three meters. Abdul Muhari, an official with the national disaster management agency, exhorted populations along the northern coast of Flores and southern islands to execute immediate autonomous evacuations. Although the tsunami warning was eventually lifted after waves of less than a meter were recorded, Wijayanto, director of the national meteorology, climatology, and geophysics agency's earthquake and tsunami department, assured that continuous marine monitoring would persist.

International and domestic assistance began aligning to address the crisis. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered support from the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation satellites, writing on X that Europe stood ready to deploy its eyes in the sky to support search-and-rescue operations. Domestically, Suharyanto noted that the disaster agency was preparing two helicopters and an airplane to assist operations, stressing that individuals trapped inside collapsed or damaged structures remained the primary targets for intervention teams.

Geographic obstacles, however, continued to hamper the deployment of emergency personnel. Fathur Rahman reported that landslides had buried or blocked roadways, choking the transit routes required for rescue workers to reach isolated communities. Compounding the regional strain, a second deep earthquake registering a magnitude of 6.9 struck near Pematangsiantar on the western island of Sumatra twelve hours later. While local resident Armendo Sinaga noted he did not feel the Sumatra tremor due to its deep focus—and the BMKG confirmed it carried no tsunami risk—the sequence underscored the relentless tectonic volatility of the region, which sits squarely on the Pacific Ring of Fire and carries a history of devastating disasters, including the 2004 Sumatra megathrust earthquake and tsunami, as well as the 2018 Palu disaster.

Key Incident Metrics

• Primary earthquake magnitude: 7.7, centered 68 km from Ende at a shallow depth
• Confirmed casualties: At least 40 dead and 50 injured
• Spontaneous displacement: Approximately 2,000 residents evacuated independently
• Secondary event: A 6.9-magnitude deep earthquake recorded near Pematangsiantar on Sumatra twelve hours later

As recovery efforts proceed, the central focus remains on clearing blocked mountain roadways and deploying government aircraft to reach survivors trapped beneath the debris in remote sectors of Flores.