Babi Island ( id, Pulau Babi, literally Pig Island) is an island located off the coast of

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the nor ...

. The

1992 Flores earthquake and tsunami The 1992 Flores earthquake and tsunami occurred on December 12 on the island of Flores in Indonesia. With a magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''), it was the largest and also the deadliest earthquake in 1992 and in ...

are estimated to have killed 263 to 700 residents of the island, with most of the destruction on the southern end of the island.

Layout

Babi is a roughly circular island less than in diameter located to the north of Flores. Its maximum height above sea level is . Its north end is bordered by a wide

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

and faces the

Flores Sea The Flores Sea covers of water in Indonesia. The sea is bounded on the north by the island of Celebes and on the south by Sunda Islands of Flores and Sumbawa. Geography The seas that border the Flores Sea are the Bali Sea (to the west), Java ...

. Further south there is a small

tidal flat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...

where two villages were built, the majority-Christian Pagaraman to the east and majority-Muslim Kampungbaru to the west. At the southern end of the island, the barrier reef tapers. It is administratively part of

Sikka Regency Sikka is a regency within East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, on the island of Flores. It covers an area of 1,731.91 km2 and had a population of 300,301 at the 2010 census and 321,953 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 202 ...

History

On 12 December 1992, an earthquake occurred near Flores at 5:29 a.m. local time (UTC+8). Within three minutes, at least one tsunami approached Babi Island from the direction of the earthquake's

epicenter The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

to the north, while a second may have hit the southwest side of the island after refracting around the southern side. The tsunami waves reached a height of ; this was "unexpectedly large". Between 263 and 700 of the island's 1,093 inhabitants were killed and both villages were completely destroyed.

Diving

Babi is home to many diving sites. One, called The Crack, was formed during the 1992 earthquake. Located in a reef below the water, the crack reaches a length of . Numerous forms of aquatic life, including

eagle ray The eagle rays are a group of cartilaginous fishes in the family Myliobatidae, consisting mostly of large species living in the open ocean rather than on the sea bottom. Eagle rays feed on mollusks and crustaceans, crushing their shells with the ...

hammerhead shark The hammerhead sharks are a group of sharks that form the family Sphyrnidae, so named for the unusual and distinctive structure of their heads, which are flattened and laterally extended into a "hammer" shape called a cephalofoil. Most hammerhe ...

s, and

spider crab The Majoidea are a superfamily of crabs which includes the various spider crabs. Taxonomy In "''A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans''" De Grave and colleagues divided Majoidea into six families: * Family Epialti ...

s can be found there. This spot also becomes one of the favorite place for travelers spend their time on snorkeling and diving.

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{cite web , title = Flores Indonesia Tsunami Pictures , url = http://www.usc.edu/dept/tsunamis/indonesia/flores/ , publisher = USC Civil Engineering Department , access-date =22 August 2011 , ref = {{harvid, USC, Flores Indonesia Lesser Sunda Islands Landforms of Flores Island (Indonesia) Landforms of East Nusa Tenggara