The death toll from last week's earthquake in eastern Indonesia has risen to 68, an official with Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency BNPB said in an online press conference on Monday (August 17).
BNPB official Berton SP Panjaitan said more than 200 have been injured and the health ministry has deployed two field hospital units.
Thousands have been evacuated following the country's deadliest disaster since a 2022 quake killed hundreds in West Java, with many sheltering in tents outdoors and afraid to return to their homes due to fears of aftershocks.
The tremor has cast a grim shadow over Indonesia's Independence Day celebrations and residents of East Nusa Tenggara have been jolted by nearly 1,600 aftershocks in the province as of Monday, Panjaitan said. The country's geophysics agency reported a 5.6 quake in the region on Monday morning.
