Earthquake at tourist hotspot kills 14 and injures at least 160
● More than 1,000 homes damaged on Indonesia’s Lombok island
A strong and shallow earthquake killed at least 14 people and injured more than 160 on Indonesia’s Lombok island, a popular tourist destination next to Bali.
The quake yesterday damaged more than 1,000 houses and was felt in a wider area, including on Bali, where no damage or casualties were reported.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at a depth of only 7 kilometres (4.4 miles). Shallow earthquakes tend to do more damage than deeper ones.
East Lombok district was the hardest hit with ten deaths, including a Malaysian tourist, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency. The number of casualties could increase as data was still being collected from other locations on the island.
At least 162 people were injured, including 67 hospitalised with serious injuries.
The quake caused black-outs in East Lombok and North Lombok districts and triggered a large landslide from Mount Rinjani, an active volcano.
Rescuers were evacuating more than 800 tourists from the mountain.
In East Lombok and the provincial capital of Mataram, the quake lasted about ten seconds, causing residents to flee their homes onto streets and fields. He said most of the fatalities and injuries were caused by falling slabs of concrete.
Photos released by the disaster agency showed damaged houses and the entrance to the popular Mount Rinjani National Park, which was immediately closed for fear of landslides.
Television footage showed residents remaining outside, fearing aftershocks, as the injured were being treated on mattresses taken out of their damaged houses and patients were wheeled out of a hospital.
A police chief in East Lombok said the Malaysian woman who died was part of a group of 18 Malaysian tourists who had just visited Mount Rinjani when the quake jolted their guesthouse and toppled a concrete wall.
Sixotherpeoplewereinjured at the guesthouse.
Many injured people who were treated outside a damaged clinic were evacuated to the main hospital farther away after more ambulances reached the devastated location in East Lombok’s Sembalmagnitude
un village. Indonesia’s meteorology and geophysics agency recorded more than 130 aftershocks.
Like Bali, Lombok is known for pristine beaches and mountains.
Hotels and other buildings in both locations are not allowed to exceed the height of coconut trees.
Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
In December 2004, a massive 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because it lies on the Ring of Fire – the line of frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions that circles virtually the entire Pacific rim.
More than half of the world’s active volcanoes above sea level are part of the ring.
“The quake felt so strong... tourists were panicked and frightened and escaped from hotels,” Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, a citizen protection director at the foreign ministry, told BBC Indonesian.
A BBC journalist, Vinayak Gaikwad, on Gili Trawangan island, about 7km from Lombok, at the time of the earthquake said: “The tremors were strong – I noticed waves in the hotel pool.
“A group of us ran out of the hotel.
“Thirty minutes later there was the first strong aftershock.
“The locals were worried because many of their structures are made from wood and bamboo, but the tourists were the most scared.”