There are no Italian citizens among the victims of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit the island of Flores, Indonesia. At least for now. The figure was communicated by the Farnesina, while the toll from the tragedy continues to rise: according to the latest update from the Indonesian Agency for Disaster Management, the Bnpb, the confirmed deaths are 47, but searches continue in the locations that rescuers have not yet managed to reach. Over five thousand displaced people.
Landslides, interruptions to the electricity grid and communications problems make it difficult to verify what happened in the villages closest to the epicentre. The Italian Foreign Ministry, through the Crisis Unit and the embassy in Jakarta, is trying to ascertain the conditions of the approximately 500 compatriots present in Flores. Throughout Indonesia, these days, there are around five thousand. The Farnesina note does not currently report any Italian deaths or injuries.
Indonesian media news
Initial feedback comes from the local press, which is reconstructing what happened in the tourist facilities of Labuan Bajo, on the western coast of Flores and the main starting point for excursions in the Komodo archipelago. The Indonesian website Detik Bali reports that two foreign tourists were injured while fleeing from the Hotel Jayakarta, one of the structures most damaged by the earthquake. Both, however, are Chinese citizens. One suffered injuries to his back, the other to his nose and leg: they were taken to Siloam Hospital in Labuan Bajo.
In Indonesian news, such as those of Detik Bali, however, there are no reports of Italians hospitalised, missing or involved in the collapses. The government of Manggarai Barat district, in which Labuan Bajo is located, also claims that no tourists have died in the area. This is not yet a nominative verification of the conditions of all 500 Italians reported by the Farnesina, but it is an element that strengthens, at least for the western tourist area, the picture provided by the Italian authorities.
The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism also released more precise data on foreigners surprised by the earthquake. According to Antara News, as many as 986 visitors were temporarily stuck on the island of Padar after the suspension of navigation caused by the tsunami warning. All have been brought back to Labuan Bajo and are safe. Hotel guests were taken out of the buildings and accompanied to some collection areas, including Natas Parapuar, Puncak Waringin and the Komodo hospital square.
The 500 Italians
The Farnesina says that around 500 Italians are on Flores, but not that all are blocked or unable to leave the island. The case documented so far concerns thirteen tourists from Bologna, some families with children who were on a boat in the Komodo archipelago when the tsunami alert was issued. The group reached the coast, moved towards an elevated area and then tried to anticipate the departure. Having failed to find a seat on the first flights, the thirteen returned to a hotel in Labuan Bajo and booked a connection to Bali for Sunday.
The information released in Italy in the first hours spoke of canceled flights and a transport system close to paralysis. However, the picture subsequently drawn by the Indonesian media is more complex. Public radio Rri Indonesia reports that Komodo Airport in Labuan Bajo continued to operate and that tourist and passenger navigation also resumed from 10 am. The difficulty encountered by the Bologna group therefore seems to depend above all on the lack of available seats, rather than on the closure of the airport.
According to Antara News, not all Flores connections, however, worked regularly. According to Antara, two Wings Air flights from Kupang to Ende were cancelled, leaving 126 passengers stranded, while connections to Ruteng required further checks. The airports of Maumere and Labuan Bajo were operational.
The affected island
Flores is a very large island and the earthquake did not produce the same consequences everywhere. The epicenter was identified at sea, about thirty kilometers north-east of Mbay, in the Nagekeo district, much further east than Labuan Bajo. It is in the central areas of the island that the most serious collapses, landslides and rescue difficulties are concentrated.
However, Labuan Bajo also experienced hours of fear. Some hotels reported cracks and collapses; the front of the Jayakarta was seriously damaged and the guests were relocated. Patients from Siloam Hospital and Komodo Public Hospital were taken outside. The earthquake also produced a sea rise of approximately 36 centimeters in Labuan Bajo. The tsunami warning was lifted at 8.30am local time.
Indonesian authorities later allowed transport to resume, but urged residents and tourists not to enter the damaged buildings. Aftershocks continued throughout the day, some with a magnitude greater than 6.
For the approximately 500 Italians present in Flores, therefore, the most important fact remains the absence, up to this moment, of compatriots among the victims and among the injured tourists identified by local hospitals. But the formula used by the Farnesina - "at the moment" - retains all its weight: in some areas of the island excavation continues and the definitive picture has not yet been reconstructed.
