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A magnitude 7.7 earthquake in eastern Indonesia has claimed 53 lives so far. Rescue teams recovered six more bodies on Sunday, a day after the quake. Meanwhile, many of the thousands left homeless spent the night outdoors, fearing further tremors. The earthquake triggered landslides on the Catholic-majority island of Flores. Rescue teams searched for people amidst the debris in six areas, paying special attention to Manggarai, East Manggarai, and Nagekeo, which were difficult to access. Fathur Rahman, head of the search-and-rescue office in Maumere (the capital of Sikka Regency), said, "We have cleared most of the landslides and reopened roads to previously isolated villages, although communication disruptions and power outages are hampering search operations." In East Nusa Tenggara province, over 900 homes were destroyed and another 450 damaged, forcing approximately 5,000 people to stay in temporary shelters. **241 Homes Damaged in Flores Area** Abdul Muhari, the Chief of Disaster Prevention at the National Disaster Management Agency, stated that at least 241 homes were damaged in the Flores area alone. The US Geological Survey reported that the earthquake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers shortly before 6:00 AM local time on Saturday. People fled in panic after a tsunami warning was issued and subsequently lifted. Muhari noted that officials have recorded at least 995 aftershocks since then, though only 46 were felt by the public; 135 people sustained injuries. **People Slept Outside Komodo National Park** In Labuan Bajo—the gateway to Komodo National Park, one of Indonesia's most famous tourist destinations—many people spent the night outdoors due to the aftershocks. Speaking from a makeshift tent near her damaged home, farmer Anastasia Imad said, "The tremors were terrifying; they were so strong that my house nearly collapsed." She added, "We were afraid that buildings would collapse on us while we slept." Landslides blocked sections of the Trans-Flores Highway—a road spanning approximately 700 kilometers that connects communities across the mountainous island. **Relief workers distributing water, blankets, and medicine** Relief workers distributed rice, ready-to-eat meals, drinking water, blankets, and medicines, while emergency shelters were set up for those left homeless. Officials stated that restoring electricity and communications, as well as delivering aid to remote villages cut off by landslides, were among the biggest challenges. Indonesia, an archipelago of over 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location along the Pacific "Ring of Fire"—an arc of seismic fault lines and volcanoes. **Flores has faced disasters** Flores has endured some of the country's most devastating disasters. In 1992, a powerful earthquake and tsunami killed approximately 2,500 people on the island. In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake triggered a tsunami on Sulawesi Island, claiming more than 4,400 lives. In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake near Sumatra unleashed a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people across a dozen countries.