JAKARTA, Aug 24 (Reuters) – The death toll from an earthquake that hit eastern Indonesia reached 100 on Monday, the disaster agency chief said, as relief operations continued for a 10th day.
The 7.7-magnitude quake shook the province of East Nusa Tenggara on August 15, followed by thousands of aftershocks, damaging more than 73,000 homes and forcing the evacuation of about 180,000 people.
• The death toll reached 100 as more people undergoing treatment succumbed to their injuries, disaster agency chief Suharyanto said in a press conference, adding more than 1,600 people were injured.
• Authorities were distributing aid using helicopters, trucks, and motorcycles, Suharyanto said.
• The earthquake was Indonesia’s deadliest since 2022, when a shallow 5.6-magnitude quake killed hundreds in West Java.
• Indonesia, an archipelago of 290 million people, straddles the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a seismically active zone where tectonic plates meet and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are frequent.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Martin Petty)
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