Indonesian rescuers search for survivors as 7.7 quake death toll rises to 38

A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Flores Island early Saturday, and Dawn reports the death toll has climbed to at least thirty-eight, with thirteen more injured. Disaster agency chief Suharyanto said victims remain trapped in collapsed buildings, and rescue teams are racing to reach them despite landslides blocking roads. A brief tsunami warning was issued and later lifted after the sea was seen retreating near the epicenter, and dozens of aftershocks, the strongest a magnitude six point one, have kept roughly two thousand evacuated residents from returning home. Flores sits on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' and has a grim history with major quakes, including a 1992 tremor that triggered a tsunami killing around twenty-five hundred people.

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