Thousands left homeless by quake on Indonesian island
SENGGIGI, INDONESIA» Thousands left homeless by a powerful quake that ruptured roads and flattened buildings on the Indonesian tourist island of Lombok sheltered Monday night in makeshift tents as authorities said rescuers hadn’t yet reached all devastated areas and expect the toll of 98 dead to climb.
It was the second deadly quake in a week to hit Lombok, a less-developed island compared with its more famous neighbor Bali, where the strong tremors caused panic and damaged buildings.
A July 29 quake killed 16 people and damaged hundreds of houses on Lombok, some of which collapsed in Sunday evening’s quake, measured at magnitude 7.0 by Indonesian authorities and 6.9 by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Damage was “massive” in mountainous northern Lombok, where the quake was centered, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. In several districts, more than half the homes were destroyed or severely damaged.
A large mosque collapsed on worshippers in northern Lombok’s Lading-Lading village, and rescuers used a backhoe to search the debris. The number of victims was unknown.
Some areas still hadn’t been reached 24 hours after the quake because of collapsed bridges, blocked and ruptured roads and the loss of power and communications.
Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 98 and warned it will continue to increase. All but two were killed on Lombok; the others died on Bali.
More than 230 people were seriously injured. Thousands of homes and buildings were damaged and those displaced camped wherever they could — in sports fields and on roadsides, cobbling together ramshackle shelters and building campfires for warmth.
Sahril, who uses one name, said he escaped his collapsing house in North Lombok with his immediate family, but his older brother is buried in his flattened home in the village of Cubek.
“He was serving customers when the earthquake happened. The customers managed to escape, but he himself didn’t,” Sahril said. “His two-story house collapsed and buried him. He had no chance to scream (for) help.”
The quake struck at a shallow depth of 10.5 kilometers (6 miles). Shallow quakes tend to cause more damage than deeper ones.
“We were sitting there having dinner at about 7 o’clock last night, we just felt a really big sort of shaking and the lights went off and everyone just ran,” Australian tourist Kim Liebelt said as he waited with other travelers for a flight out at Lombok’s international airport.
“And then the roof started falling down on us, rocks and rubble and then just everyone running to get away,” he said.
Videos showed screaming people running in panic from a shopping mall and a neighborhood in Bali where parked vehicles swayed. On Lombok, soldiers and other rescuers carried the injured on stretchers and carpets. Many were treated outdoors because hospitals were damaged.
“People panicked and scattered on the streets, and buildings and houses that had been damaged by the previous earthquake had become more damaged and collapsed,” Nugroho said.