LOMBOK SHAKEN
Powerful quake on tourist island leaves at least 82 dead
THOUSANDS of homes were damaged by a powerful earthquake on Sunday on the Indonesian tourist island of Lombok.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 82 with hundreds injured. Most of the deaths were caused by collapsing houses.
The magnitude 7.0 earthquake early on Sunday evening struck in the northern part of Lombok and was also felt on Bali, where the airport terminal had ceiling tiles shaken loose.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister has tweeted that he and his delegation were safely evacuated in darkness from a Lombok hotel where they had been staying during a regional security conference.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told Fairfax Media he was on the hotel’s 12th floor when the quake struck. He says the quake “was powerful enough to put us on the floor” and cut power.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told Channel 9 he would call Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo “to offer all the Australian assistance that can be made available”. He said there were no reports of injured Australians.
Model Chrissy Teigen shared her shock and worry in real time during the powerful earthquake with her social media followers.
The model, along with singer-husband John Legend and their two children, felt the shaking while on holiday in neighbouring Bali on Sunday.
“Bali. Trembling. So long,” Teigen tweeted to her 10.6 million followers.
The aftershocks unnerved Teigen, too. “im either still trembling or these little quakes won’t stop IM TRYING TO BE NORMAL HERE,” she wrote.
It was the second quake to hit Lombok in a week.