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INDONESIA-EARTHQUAKE-FOLLOWUP
Multiple quakes rock Indonesia’s Lombok island, five dead
MATARAM, Indonesia, Aug 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Multiple earthquakes —
including a powerful and shallow 6.9-magnitude tremor — have rocked the
Indonesian holiday island of Lombok, killing at least five people and setting
off fresh waves of panic.
A series of quakes were recorded by seismologists throughout Sunday, the
first measuring 6.3 shortly before midday which triggered landslides and sent
people fleeing for cover.
It was followed nearly twelve hours later by a quake measuring 6.9 and at
least five more significant aftershocks, according to the US Geological
Survey.
The picturesque island is already reeling from two devastating quakes on
July 29 and August 5 that killed nearly 500 people and made hundreds of
thousands homeless.
Local disaster agency spokesman Agung Pramuja said five people were killed
by the quake late Sunday evening, two in eastern Lombok and three on the
neighbouring island of Sumbawa.
“So far five people died and scores of people are injured. We are still
collecting data on the exact number,” Pramuja told AFP Monday.
Officials have evacuated a number of patients from a hospital in Sumbawa
island for fear of worse destruction.
Blackouts had hit much of Lombok, according to a spokesman for the national
disaster mitigation agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, who posted pictures of
cracked roads and video footage of a large fire that broke out in a village
on Sumbawa.
One Lombok resident said the powerful tremor jolted him awake.
“The earthquake was incredibly strong. Everything was shaking,” Agus Salim
told AFP.
“We were all sleeping in an evacuation tent. I had just fallen asleep when
suddenly it started to shake…. Everyone ran into the street screaming and
crying.”
A dozen foreign guests at the hotel Lina Senggigi, which is in a popular
tourist spot, were ushered out of the building as the quake struck.
“The jolt was strong and quite long… Tonight we will ask our guests to
sleep in the parking lot. It’s safer that way,” a staff member told Kompas
TV.
Terrified evacuees in East Lombok prefer to stay in makeshift tents instead
of going home.
“Power is still off until this morning. Fortunately nobody was hurt here
but people are still in shock,” East Lombok resident Ujip Udin told AFP
Monday. – Landslides and collapsed buildings –
The morning quake caused panic but no widespread reports of damage. One
person died from a suspected heart attack and there were reports of localised
damage, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
Landslides were reported in a national park on Mount Rinjani where hundreds
of hikers had been briefly trapped after the quake in late July. The park has
been closed since then.
Local disaster mitigation agency spokesman Agung Pramuja said several
houses and other structures in the district of Sembalun, on the slopes of
Mount Rinjani, collapsed on Sunday after being damaged by the previous two
quakes.
The structures included checkpoints once used by trekkers climbing the
mountain, Pramuja said, adding that the exact number of damaged buildings was
still being checked.
Sunday’s tremors were also felt on the neighbouring resort island of Bali
but there were no reports of damage.
– ‘Ring of Fire’ –
The latest tremor comes two weeks after a shallow 6.9-magnitude quake on
August 5 damaged tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across
Lombok.
At least 481 people died and thousands were injured.
The hardest-hit region was in the north of the island, which has suffered
hundreds of aftershocks.
A week before that quake, a tremor surged through the island and killed 17.
The August 5 quake left more than 350,000 displaced, with many sleeping
under tents or tarpaulins near their ruined homes or in evacuation shelters,
while makeshift medical facilities were set up to treat the injured.
Badly damaged roads, particularly in the mountainous north of the island,
are a headache for relief agencies trying to distribute aid.
The economic toll of the quake is estimated to be at least five trillion
rupiah ($348 million).
Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic
plates collide and many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes
occur.
In 2004 a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the
coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia killed 220,000 people in countries
around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0811 hrs