Jakarta: Another strong earthquake measuring 6.8 magnitude struck Indonesia’s northern Sumatra region on Saturday, hours after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit off eastern Indonesia, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).

The earlier earthquake struck in the early hours of Saturday and has left at least 38 people dead, with authorities warning that the toll could increase.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (NDMA) chief Suharyanto said 38 people had been confirmed dead, two were seriously injured and 11 suffered minor injuries. Around 2,000 people evacuated on their own following the earthquake.

Tsunami alert issued after powerful earthquake

The 7.7-magnitude earthquake prompted Indonesian authorities to issue a tsunami alert, warning that waves could reach between 0.5 metres and three metres.

Residents in Maumere town on Flores Island were evacuated to higher ground as a precaution. Authorities later detected tsunami waves measuring between 19 and 30 centimetres in the region.

Wijayanto, director of earthquakes and tsunamis at Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said modelling indicated that the earthquake had the potential to generate tsunami waves in East Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara.

38 killed, buildings damaged after quake

The powerful tremor triggered panic among residents, while photographs and videos showing damage were widely shared on social media.

Some footage showed the sea apparently receding along parts of Indonesia’s coastline. Social media posts also claimed that some buildings had collapsed, although those claims could not be independently verified.

A 31-year-old hospital customer service official, Lukas Lotar, told AFP that the shaking caused panic at a hospital, with patients fleeing the facility. He said he saw cracks appearing in some walls.

Indonesia frequently experiences earthquakes because it lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

The country experienced one of the world’s deadliest earthquake disasters in 2004, when a 9.1-magnitude earthquake off Sumatra triggered a devastating tsunami that killed around 220,000 people across the region.

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