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Emergency crews on Indonesia's Flores island are trying to reach communities cut off by landslides and damaged roads. That's after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit on Saturday. Flores is a mountainous island east of Bali. It's one of thousands of Indonesian islands stretching between Asia's mainland and Australia. Indonesia's disaster management agency says at least 70 people were killed and more than 1,100 injured in the quake. Naina Rao has the latest from the capital, Jakarta.
NAINA RAO, BYLINE: At a port on Flores, a cellphone video recorded by a resident captured the passenger terminal's two-story waiting area collapsing.
(SOUNDBITE OF BUILDING COLLAPSING)
RAO: The shallow earthquake struck early Saturday morning, just off the island's northern coast. It triggered a tsunami on several islands. Indonesia's meteorology agency says the highest measured wave was about 5 feet. By Monday, the agency had recorded more than 1,600 aftershocks, leaving many survivors afraid to go back indoors. About 2 million people live on the island. One of them is 45-year-old Efrid Bata (ph), who says his family was asleep when the shaking intensified.
EFRID BATA: (Non-English language spoken).
RAO: He says he grabbed his youngest child when the strongest shaking hit and ran outside, shouting to wake the rest of his family. Bata says his family and neighbors have stayed outside since the quake, some sleeping on bare ground. There is no central evacuation site in this area, and by Monday evening, he says government assistance had not reached his immediate community. His family was rationing food and clean water.
Across Flores, the disaster agency says it has sent thousands of emergency personnel to help and deployed two field hospitals. Power has been restored to nearly all affected customers, but landslides are slowing rescue efforts. Yosef Badeoda is the top local official for one of the districts affected by the earthquake. He says it's been challenging for aid to reach the villages because they're so remote and isolated.
YOSEF BADEODA: (Non-English language spoken).
RAO: He says, "reaching mountain communities takes time due to steep, narrow roads. With phone service not fully restored, delivering aid is even more challenging."
The government has deployed 10 aircraft to reach remote locations and expedite the delivery of supplies. On a small island off its northern coast, a ferry arrived Monday carrying hundreds of food packages and family tents, along with more than 3,500 pounds of rice, a delivery that's crucial for Bata as his family's recovery depends on how quickly that assistance reaches their neighborhood.
For NPR News, I'm Naina Rao in Jakarta, Indonesia.
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