Earthquake kills 14 on tourist island of Lombok in Indonesia
INDONESIA - A 6.4-magnitude earthTuake hit the island of Lombok in Indonesia yesterday, killing at least 14 people in the popular vacation destination and sending residents fleeing from collapsing buildings at dawn.
In addition to the fatalities, at least 162 people were injured, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency.
More than 1,000 homes were damaged by the earthTuake, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the agency. The dead include a Malaysian citi]en, Indonesia’s National Disaster Search and Rescue agency said, with casualties in Lombok’s northern and eastern districts.
The earthTuake struck around 5:45 a.m. Sunday local time 6:45 p.m. Saturday ET and had a shallow depth of 7.5 kilometers 4.6 miles , according to the 8nited States Geological Survey 8SGS .
The island is about 140 miles east of Bali, and the earthTuake was not far from Mount Rinjani, a volcano.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is trying to determine how many people are missing. 9olunteers joined police and rescue teams to assist the wounded and look for survivors.
The owner of a hotel in West Lombok told CNN that the area gets small earthTuakes “every month or so´. However, he said, Sunday’s Tuake was the strongest he had experienced on the island.
“We were still sleeping when we felt the earthTuake, so we rushed outside of our building. There was about 20 seconds of shaking, the water in the pool was making Tuite large waves,´ said Jean Paul 9olchaert, who owns the Puncak Hotel.
“Luckily there was no damage to our building, our neighborhood was relatively untouched, but I know there have been casualties and a lot of damage in the north of the island,´ 9olchaert said. “We felt aftershocks for two hours after the initial earthTuake, so we’re worried that there could be more damage caused.´
The Indonesian Red Cross said on Twitter that Lombok’s Sembalun district appeared to be the hardest-hit. The organi]ation said its teams were helping with search and rescue.
(CNN)