By Eddie Spence | Updated on Aug 16, 2026 at 12:11 PM
Rescue teams in Indonesia cleared landslides and reopened blocked roads on Sunday as the death toll from a powerful earthquake in the east of the country hit 53.
The magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck off Flores island on Saturday, according to the US Geological Survey, triggering a tsunami warning that was later lifted. The quake also caused landslides that blocked roads and cut off access to some remote areas.
Some of those roads have since been reopened, according to Fathur Rahman, head of the Search and Rescue Office in Maumere, the capital of Sikka regency.
“The search can be further expanded to reach areas requiring assistance,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
Most of Indonesia sits directly on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of tectonic plate boundaries that make the region prone to earthquakes and volcanoes. Saturday’s temblor is one of the most serious to hit the country in years, damaging over a thousand homes and public buildings.
The emergency response to the disaster is expected to continue for two to three weeks, according to Abdul Muhari, deputy for prevention at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. The death toll stood at 53 as of Sunday afternoon, he said.
Aftershocks continued to rock Flores island — which has a population of approximately 2 million people — on Sunday. Some residents of Maumere took shelter from them in a local football stadium, according to local media
The central government has begun dispatching aid by military aircraft to Flores, which lies almost 1,000 miles east of the capital Jakarta, according to a statement from the Government Communication Agency. More than 3,500 personnel from the armed forces and national police have also been sent to affected regions, the statement said.
Major quakes around the world since June have killed thousands and caused billions of dollars in destruction. Across western Colombia, at least 172 buildings collapsed and more than 10,000 homes were left uninhabitable in a 7.4 magnitude earthquake on Monday, leaving over 280 people dead and many more missing.