P anic as new Lombok earthquake triggers landslides
A STRONG earthquake rocked the Indonesian island of Lombok last night, triggering landslides, damaging buildings and sending people fleeing just two weeks after a tremor killed more than 480 people there.
The US Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.9 quake struck last night at a depth of 19km.
An Associated Press reporter in Sembalun subdistrict, on the island’s northeast in the shadow of Mount Rinjani, said the latest in the flurry of quakes caused panic and power blackouts.
Many people were already staying in tents following a deadly quake in early August and its hundreds of aftershocks.
Kompas TV said there were power blackouts in the north, centre and west of the island. Hotel guests in the Senggigi resort town on the west of the island were evacuated to car parks, it said.
Dwikorita Karnawatim, who heads Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, said buildings that have not collapsed so far have suffered repeated stress, and authorities have urged people to avoid both the mountain’s slopes and weakened buildings.
The quake also was felt in the neighbouring islands of Bali and Sumbawa.
Late on Sunday morning, a magnitude 6.3 quake had also struck the island, still reeling from the quake earlier this month that killed 460 people.
The morning quake caused landslides and damaged buildings, but as of last night there were no reports of injuries or fatalities. Video shot earlier by the Indonesian Red Cross showed huge clouds of dust billowing from the slopes of Rinjani. The shaking toppled motorcycles and there was damage to buildings in Sembalun subdistrict, including a community hall that collapsed.
It had sustained damage in earlier quakes, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. Homes and a mosque were also damaged, he said.
A magnitude 7.0 quake on August 5 killed 460 people, damaged tens of thousands of homes and displaced several hundred thousand people on Lombok. Mount Rinjani has been closed to visitors following a July earthquake that killed 16 people, triggered landslides and stranded hundreds of tourists on the mountain.