NTT quake survivors logged 9,668 ISPA cases in Flores in late August

Labuan Bajo — — A total of 9,668 reported cases of acute respiratory infection (ISPA) were logged among earthquake survivors across seven districts on Flores between 15 and 25 August 2026, according to Indonesia’s Ministry of Health and multiple media reports. The ministry has described ISPA as the most frequently reported health problem in the period but has not specified whether the figure represents confirmed diagnoses, symptom reports, consultations or unique patients.

The ministry’s Health Crisis Center head, Agus Jamaludin, told a press briefing that ISPA dominated complaints recorded in areas affected by the Nusa Tenggara Timur earthquake, with 9,668 cases spread across seven districts on Flores. Reports citing the same briefing list the affected districts as Manggarai, Sikka, Nagekeo, West Manggarai, Ende, Ngada and East Manggarai. Additional coverage confirms that the cases were recorded among residents of these seven districts in the Flores area.

Available accounts of the briefing indicate that the count reflects health problems reported to services supporting disaster survivors, rather than a confirmed tally of cases caused directly by the earthquake or its environmental impacts. The data were presented as part of the ministry’s monitoring of health needs in evacuation sites and communities over the 15–25 August period.

What the 9,668 cases represent

Media reports citing the Health Crisis Center’s data give a combined total for ISPA across the seven districts but do not publish a district-by-district breakdown. They also do not state how many patients were clinically examined, how many underwent laboratory testing, or whether one person could be counted more than once if they sought care on multiple occasions.

According to the ministry’s briefing, other health problems among survivors during the same 15–25 August monitoring period included hypertension, muscle pain (myalgia), trauma, diarrhoea, gastritis, dyspepsia, diabetes, skin disease and lower-back pain. Hypertension was the second most frequently reported condition at 4,686 cases, followed by myalgia at 1,017 and trauma at 662. Diarrhoea was reported in 627 cases, gastritis in 571, dyspepsia in 487, diabetes in 392, skin disease in 347 and lower-back pain in 283.

These figures suggest that health services in the affected parts of Flores were handling both injuries linked to the earthquake and ongoing, non-traumatic medical conditions during the emergency period.

Other reported health issues and emergency care

The Health Crisis Center also recorded 35 reported bites by animals that can transmit rabies in Nagekeo district, with all of the affected people reported as having received vaccination. These cases were monitored alongside respiratory and other health complaints in areas impacted by the earthquake.

To cope with the surge in health needs, the ministry has described deploying reserve health personnel and establishing temporary facilities. It reported setting up field hospitals using air-supported tents in Aeramo, Nagekeo, and at Ruteng Regional Hospital in Manggarai to maintain services near evacuation sites. In its account of the response, the ministry said the Aeramo field hospital had already carried out surgical operations, while additional patients in East Manggarai were able to receive treatment at existing facilities.

Respiratory risks in disaster settings

Officials have highlighted that acute respiratory infections can become more frequent after disasters due to changes in living conditions, crowding in shelters, and exposure to smoke or dust. In parallel with its monitoring on Flores, the Health Ministry has been tracking air quality in regions affected by forest and land fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, where unhealthy to very unhealthy conditions were recorded and linked to increased respiratory risk, especially for vulnerable groups.

For the Flores earthquake response, publicly available summaries of the briefing focus on the total number of ISPA and other health complaints, without detailing district-level attribution of the 9,668 respiratory cases to specific exposures such as smoke, dust or crowding in evacuation centres. As a result, the figure is best understood as an indicator of health-service demand among survivors during the monitoring period, rather than a confirmed count of respiratory illnesses caused by a particular hazard.

Timeline and evolving data

The 9,668 ISPA cases were reported as covering the period from 15 to 25 August 2026, and were presented publicly in a briefing held on 26 August. Subsequent ministry updates show that respiratory complaints among earthquake survivors continued to rise in the following weeks: by 10 September, the Health Ministry’s spokesperson reported 25,017 ISPA cases across the same seven Flores districts, alongside notable numbers of dermatitis and diarrhoea in evacuation locations.

Those later figures indicate that the 9,668 cases discussed in the 26 August briefing formed part of an evolving picture of disaster-related health needs, rather than a final tally.

Sources

• Kementerian Kesehatan RI (Indonesian-language site)
• Detikhealth
• TrenHarapan
• Katadata Databoks
• Media Indonesia
• Bloomberg Technoz