JAKARTA, Aug. 15 -- For the families in Nagekeo regency who spent hours without word from the zone closest to the earthquake's epicenter, the arrival of rescue teams on Saturday brought the first official accounting of what a 7.7 magnitude quake had done to their communities: at least 38 dead, a toll expected to continue rising.

The earthquake struck Flores Island in eastern Indonesia in the early morning hours, sending residents fleeing cracked buildings in Maumere, Ruteng, and Manggarai as the ground moved beneath them. Emergency responders confirmed five dead in the immediate aftermath, then twenty. The number held for much of Saturday morning, not because the situation had stabilized, but because Nagekeo regency, the area directly ab...