Originally published at The Crux
Read more...
Church leaders on the Indonesian island of Flores were mobilizing relief workers and assessing damage this weekend, after a powerful earthquake killed scores of people and destroyed more than 900 homes.
The magnitude 7.7 quake caused landslides and triggered a tsunami warning.
Thousands of people spent the night between Saturday and Sunday outdoors, as hundreds of aftershocks continued to shake the island.
‘Unlike anything I have felt before’
Archbishop Paulus Boedhie Kleden of Ende archdiocese on Flores was on a pastoral visit when the quake began, early on Saturday morning.
“It was terrible,” the archbishop told Crux Now. “I have experienced earthquakes many times,” he said, “but the magnitude and length of this earthquake were unlike anything I have felt before.”
Kleden told Crux Now he made three forays to survey damage and visit people during the day Saturday, and found people in frantic flight to higher ground.
“I went out three times,” he said, “in the morning, and then during midday, and later in evening. I met our
