NTT quake: 71 deaths, thousands of aftershocks in Flores and Manggarai Barat

Labuan Bajo — Indonesia’s disaster agency has confirmed at least 71 deaths and thousands of aftershocks following the magnitude-7.7 earthquake that struck Flores, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), on Saturday, 15 August 2026, with Manggarai Barat among the seven hardest-hit regencies.

According to the Manggarai Barat government portal Info Mabar, the 71 deaths reported by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) on 19 August covered fatalities in Manggarai, Manggarai Timur, Nagekeo, Sikka, Ende, Manggarai Barat and Ngada. The portal cited a BNPB briefing held in Manggarai Barat that day.

Info Mabar reported that BNPB’s acting head of data, information and disaster communication, Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan, said the aftershock sequence remained active but was showing a declining trend, with 3,002 tremors recorded by 19 August. Independent national outlets also quoted BNPB putting the death toll at 71 people and the number of displaced residents at 59,647 as of that same update.

Casualties across seven regencies

The figures reported by Info Mabar and national media show that the 71 deaths on 19 August were spread across seven regencies in Flores. Manggarai recorded the highest number of fatalities, followed by Manggarai Timur and Nagekeo.

National coverage of the BNPB update on 19 August stated that 898 people were injured and 59,647 residents were displaced across the affected areas, based on BNPB data. These figures reflect conditions four days after the main shock and before later revisions.

Manggarai Barat impact

According to the Info Mabar briefing summary, Manggarai Barat authorities reported thousands of homes damaged in the regency, ranging from heavy to light damage. The same report noted at least two deaths linked to the earthquake in Manggarai Barat.

BNPB’s 19 August update, as reported by several national outlets, described widespread housing and infrastructure damage across multiple regencies, including Manggarai Barat, Manggarai Timur, Manggarai, Nagekeo, Sikka, Ende and Ngada. Damage encompassed private housing, education and health facilities, roads and bridges.

BNPB said the central government, the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), the Health Ministry and the Indonesian military and police were involved in emergency response, logistics distribution and early recovery efforts in the affected areas. Panjaitan urged residents to remain cautious and avoid buildings that had cracked or suffered severe structural damage.

Earthquake and aftershocks

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported that the earthquake struck at 04:58 local time on 15 August with an updated magnitude of 7.7, a depth of about 15 kilometres and an epicentre in the sea roughly 30 kilometres northeast of Nagekeo. BMKG classified it as a shallow thrust-fault event along the Flores Back-arc Thrust.

BMKG issued a tsunami early warning for parts of NTT, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi on 15 August, later ending the warning the same morning after further monitoring. The agency later documented tsunami traces along portions of the Flores coast, including Manggarai.

By 19 August, BNPB and local authorities cited 3,002 aftershocks since the main event, with BMKG and subsequent reports indicating that the sequence continued and the number of tremors rose further in the following weeks. BMKG articles on the Flores earthquake describe clusters of aftershocks in the Flores Back-arc Thrust zone and note that activity persisted for more than a month.

Later BNPB updates, reported by national media, revised casualty and displacement figures upward as field verification continued, with the death toll eventually surpassing 100 and the number of displaced residents exceeding 90,000. Those later counts confirm that the 71 deaths and 59,647 displaced residents reported on 19 August were interim figures from an evolving emergency response.

Sources

• CNBC Indonesia
• CNN Indonesia
• NU Online
• VIVA
• IDN Times
• BMKG tsunami warning bulletin
• Okezone
• Investortrust
• BBC News Indonesia
• Info Mabar