INDONESIA QUAKE TOLL RISES TO 98
TOURISTS FLEE Fears of tsunami after powerful temblor strikes archipelago, thousands evacuated
An earthquake of magnitude 6.9 killed at least 98 people and prompted an exodus of tourists rattled by the second powerful quake in a week at Indonesia’s resort island of Lombok on Monday. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said the toll to rise once the rubble of more than 13,000 flattened and damaged houses was cleared away.
PEMENANG: Scenes of destruction greeted rescue workers across Indonesia’s resort island of Lombok on Monday, after an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 killed at least 98 people and prompted an exodus of tourists rattled by the second powerful quake in a week.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said it expected the death toll to rise once the rubble of more than 13,000 flattened and damaged houses was cleared away.
Power and communications were severed in some areas, with landslides and a collapsed bridge blocking access to areas around the quake epicentre in the north. The military said it would send a ship with medical aid, supplies and logistics support.
In a message on social network Twitter, the Indonesian Red Cross said it helped a woman give birth after the quake at a health post. One of the names she gave the baby boy was Gempa, which means earthquake.
Lombok was hit on July 29 by a 6.4 magnitude quake that killed 17 people and briefly stranded several hundred trekkers on the slopes of a volcano.
The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) said more than 120 aftershocks were recorded after Sunday evening’s quake, whose magnitude the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) revised down to 6.9 from an initial 7.0. At that magnitude it released more than five times the energy of the quake a week earlier, the USGS website showed.
The dead included no foreigners and there were 236 people injured, BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference.
The tremor was powerful enough to be felt on the neighbouring island of Bali where, BNPB said, two people died.
The first quake was also felt on Bali.
Nugroho said more than 20,000 people had been displaced.
Among them were residents of a northern village called Mentigi, who fled to nearby hills. Blue tarpaulins dotted the landscape as people prepared to spend the nights outdoors because of aftershocks or because their homes were destroyed.
“We are getting some aid from volunteers, but we don’t have proper tents yet,” said a 50-yearold villager sheltering with his wife and children, who gave his name only as Marhun.
Sengiggi, a seaside tourist strip on Lombok, wore an abandoned look. Amid collapsed homes, some hotels seemed to have shut, restaurants were empty and beaches deserted.
Long lines formed at the airport of Lombok’s main town, Mataram, as foreign visitors cut their holidays short. BNPB said 18 extra flights had been added for leaving tourists.
Officials said more than 2,000 people had been evacuated from the three Gili islands off the northwest coast of Lombok, where fears of a tsunami spread among tourists.
Michelle Thompson, an American holidaying on one of the Gilis, described a “scramble” to get on boats leaving for the main island during which her husband was injured.