Fatal quake
▶ More than 120 aftershocks recorded after second earthquake in a week
A man carries a tricycle through the ruins of houses yesterday after an earthquake in Lombok, Indonesia.
There was chaos and destruction across the Indonesian resort island of Lombok yesterday after a magnitude-6.9 earthquake killed at least 98 people and prompted tourists to leave after the second powerful quake in a week.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said the toll from Sunday’s quake was expected to rise, with initial reports of hundreds injured and thousands of buildings collapsed or badly damaged.
Power and communications were cut in some areas of Lombok, and the military said it was sending in a ship with medical supplies.
On July 29, the island was hit by a 6.4-magnitude quake that killed 17 people, injured hundreds and briefly stranded trekkers on the slopes of a volcano.
The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics said more than 120 aftershocks were recorded after the quake on Sunday evening.
It was so powerful that it was felt on the neighbouring island of Bali, where two people died.
Efforts to rescue people trapped in the rubble of a mosque were hampered by the lack of heavy lifting equipment, a disaster agency official said.
Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said yesterday that the death toll would “definitely increase”.
Footage has spread of an imam continuing to pray as the earthquake struck his mosque in Bali. Musholla As-Syuhada Blk held himself steady against a wall as he led prayers.
Thousands of tourists were caught off guard as the ground of their luxury hotels was shaken by the tremors.
“I was on the rooftop of my hotel and the building started swaying very hard. It felt like two metres to the left, then two metres to the right. I could not stand up,” said Gino Poggiali, 43, a Frenchman who was with his wife and two children.
His wife Maude, 44, said the family were on Bali for the first quake and Lombok for the second.
“This is it for me in Indonesia,” Maude said. “Next time we will stay in France or somewhere close.”
Long queues formed at the airport near Lombok’s main town of Mataram as foreign visitors cut short holidays.
Garuda Indonesia airline said it was adding extra flights from Lombok to help tourists leave, and AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes tweeted that the budget airline would also try to provide extra flights.
The UAE Embassy in Jakarta tweeted a message to Emiratis in the country telling them to stay safe and follow instructions from local authorities.
Carlos Romartinez, 24, a Spaniard who was waiting for a flight out of Lombok, said he had decided to head instead to the island of Flores, to the east.
“All the activities are shut,” Mr Romartinez said. “We can’t dive, we can’t do anything, so we will go to another island.”
Dutch tourist Marc Ganbuwalba, 26, injured his knee as diners rushed from a restaurant after the quake.
“We are cutting short our holiday because I can’t walk and we’re just not in the mood any more,” he said, sitting on a baggage trolley with his leg bandaged.
“We’re more in the mood to see our loved ones. We are just thankful to God and also to the hotel staff, who really helped us. Some of them said their own houses had been destroyed but they were still helping us.”
Officials said more than 2,000 people had been moved from the three Gili islands a few kilometres off the north-west coast of Lombok, where fears of a tsunami spread among tourists. Hundreds crowded on to the powder-white beaches of the three tiny, coral-fringed tropical islands, desperately awaiting transport.
Authorities initially said 1,200 people were stuck on the islands but increased the figure early in the evening. Some tourists chose to stay behind.
Seven Indonesian holidaymakers died on the largest of the three islands, Gili Trawangan.
Singaporean Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who was on the 10th floor of a hotel in Mataram when the earthquake struck, said his room shook violently and the walls cracked.
“It was quite impossible to stand up,” Mr Shanmugam said on Facebook.
“Heard screams. Came out and made my way down a staircase while the building was still shaking. Power went out for a while. Lots of cracks, fallen doors.”
His government yesterday issued a travel notice advising citizens to defer travel to Lombok and urging those there to leave.
“We were knocked certainly to the floor,” said Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, who was on the 12th floor of a Lombok hotel.
“We were pretty lucky to get out. Everyone’s a bit shaken but all well.”
Sunday’s earthquake had a magnitude of 6.9, while July 29’s quake measured 6.4