Lombok earthquake

Widespread panic sweeps through Bali as a deadly earthquake hits the nearby island of Lombok

DINING AT SEMINYAK’S LACALACA Cantina Mexicana restaurant on the Indonesian island of Bali with a friend on Aug. 5, Sydney-based creative director Kirsten Keevers was suddenly struck with fear. As a deadly 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the northern and western parts of the nearby island of Lombok at 6.46 PM local time, killing at least 98 people, damaging thousands of homes as far as Denpasar, Bali, and triggering a tsunami warning, the 38-year-old owner of popular bohemian fashion brand Kivari fled the restaurant. “It was the biggest earthquake I’ve felt in Bali,” Keevers, who has a factory and employs 35 staff on the island, tells WHO. “The ground started shaking slowly and built to a really strong shake,” she says. “The whole restaurant started moving and the light above our table was swinging around like crazy. We looked at each other and said, ‘Earthquake!’ and ran outside.”

Out on the street, Keevers, an avid traveller, was joined by the rest of the restaurant’s frantic customers, most of whom were panicked tourists. “It’s scary because it’s such an unknown; you wonder how long will it last, will there be a tsunami? Will it happen again?” Keevers tells WHO. “It put me on edge for the rest of the night and even today.”

Also caught up in the disaster was US model Chrissy Teigen, 32, and her husband, singer John Legend, 39, as well as Australian-born, La-based actress Teresa Palmer, 32, who live-tweeted her experience from the treehouse she was sharing with her husband Mark Webber, 38, and two sons, Bodhi, 4, and Forest, 1. “We felt it here in Ubud and it was VIOLENT,” she shared with her followers. “We are staying in a treehouse and it was swaying like crazy. Very scary. Stay safe everyone.”

The deadly quake was followed by two secondary quakes and nearly two dozen aftershocks, though the tsunami warning was lifted. On Lombok, the scene was one of utter devastation as thousands fled their homes to

gather in open spaces after 236 were people injured. As WHO went to press, the death toll was expected to rise.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has offered the Indonesian President Joko Widodo assistance and confirmed there were no reports of Australians being injured by the quake at press time.

The tragedy comes just over a week after more than 16 people were killed in Lombok— and hundreds more were stranded on hiking trails on Mount Rinjani—after a 6.4 magnitude quake hit the island, also destroying hundreds of houses. “Never felt anything so strong before,” Palmer tweeted. “Very scary.” •

The Lombok earthquake was also felt in neighbouring Bali, where residents were urged to stay outside, and hospital patients were wheeled out of buildings in fear of aftershocks.

Founder of popular fashion brand Kivari, Kirsten Keevers, was on a work trip from Sydney when the quake hit.

Among the buildings destroyed in Lombok were two homes for underprivileged children, with about 80 youngsters forced to sleep outside, CNN reported. With hundreds injured and the death toll rising, emergency workers raced to evacuate thousands of tourists from the three small Gili Islands, near the epicentre of the quake.