Strong Indonesia Quake Kills at Least 147

JAKARTA, Indonesia —  A major earthquake Saturday leveled hundreds of buildings and sent tidal waves crashing into villages, killing at least 147 people and injuring 88.

Most of the deaths were on the island of Flores, about 1,100 miles east of Jakarta, rescue team spokesman Hendrik Nai said today.

Bad communications hampered the task of gathering information from other parts of the beleaguered island, he said.

“The impact of the earthquake was devastating. About 80% of the town of Maumere has been destroyed,” said Alexs Babys, an official of the town of 40,000 in the Lesser Sunda Islands.

The quake triggered a tidal wave as high as 80 feet that swept away entire villages, Nai said.

Indonesian officials measured the quake at magnitude 6.8.

The U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., said the earthquake struck at 1:29 p.m. and had a magnitude of 7.5.

Sariman, an official at the Maumere geophysics station, said the epicenter was in the Savu Sea, 19 miles southwest of Maumere.

“It’s like the end of the world,” said Embih Ruslan, a meteorological official.

Heavy rains and no electricity were making rescue work difficult, he said.

Most of the victims in Maumere reportedly were killed by tidal waves, and others by falling buildings.

“For the time being, we have ordered the people to stay out of their homes and buildings and gather at open fields and other places,” Babys said in a telephone interview.

He said the building he was talking from was swaying as he spoke.

Indonesia is along the Pacific’s volcanic “rim of fire” and is hit by many strong temblors each year.

A 1979 earthquake that measured 8.1 killed about 100 people in Indonesia. A 1977 temblor measured at 8 left about 200 dead.