Fresh quake triggers

Landslides in Lombok

There have been no reports of death or (serious) damage but people are traumatised.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, Spokesman of national disaster agency

mataram — A strong earthquake rocked the Indonesian island of Lombok on Sunday, triggering landslides, damaging buildings and sending people fleeing just two weeks after a tremor killed more than 480 people there.

The 6.3-magnitude quake, centred in East Lombok, struck at a relatively shallow depth of seven kilometres and was felt across the island, officials said.

It was the third major quake in less than a month to rock the island, after deadly tremors on July 29 and August 5 and numerous aftershocks, but this time there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.

“The earthquake caused people to panic and flee their houses,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told Metro TV.

“There have been no reports of death or (serious) damage but people are traumatised.”

Landslides were reported in a national park on Mount Rinjani where hundreds of hikers had been briefly trapped after the quake in late July. The park has been closed since then.

Local disaster mitigation agency spokesman Agung Pramuja said several houses and other structures in the district of Sembalun, on the slopes of Mount Rinjani, collapsed on Sunday after being damaged by the previous two quakes. —