A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit the Southeast Asian nation of Indonesia on Saturday, killing at least 40 people.
The quake struck to the north of Flores Island in the eastern part of the country in the early hours of the morning, sparking panic as people fled into the streets amid crumbling buildings.
A tsunami warning was issued but was later lifted, with Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) saying it was no longer detecting significant sea level rises that could threaten coastal communities.
Fathur Rahman, a rescue official, said the death toll had risen to 40 on Saturday evening, with 50 people also injured.
According to the National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (BNPB), 2,000 people in the Nagekeo Regency self-evacuated after the quake.
Nelly Florida Riama, a deputy director for geophysics at BMKG, earlier warned that while the tsunami warning was over, aftershocks were "still occurring."
"We urge the public to remain calm, not to be swayed by irresponsible rumours, and to keep up to date with information from the BMKG’s official channels,” Nelly added.
The BNPB said tremors were reported to have been felt across the regencies of Nagekeo, Sikka, and West Manggarai in the province of East Nusa Tenggara; Bima City and Bima Regency in West Nusa Tenggara; and in the Jeneponto, Selayar Islands, and Maros Regencies in South Sulawesi.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has expressed her condolences to families affected by the quake and said the EU was ready to deploy its Copernicus Earth observation satellites to assist.
"From solidarity to action, Europe stands ready to deploy Copernicus, our eyes in the sky, to support search and rescue efforts," she wrote in a post on X.
A second 6.9-magnitude earthquake later hit Pematangsiantar on the western island of Sumatra, at a depth of around 183 km. The first quake hit at a depth of around 10 km.
Earthquakes that occur at greater depth tend to cause less destruction than those closer to the surface, as the strength of shaking reduces with increasing distance from its source.
Authorities are assessing the impact of the second quake.
