Aftershocks rock Indonesia's Lombok as quake death toll tops 300
- by Jerome Frank
- in World News
- — Aug 9, 2018
The 5.9-magnitude quake on Thursday struck at a shallow depth in the northwest of the island, the US Geological Survey said, even as relief agencies raced to find survivors among wreckage from Sunday's quake.
Today's natural disaster was the third big trmor to hit Lombok in little more than a week but there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.
Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed in Sunday's quake and more than 150,000 people are homeless.
About three-quarters of the island's rural north have been without electricity.
A humanitarian crisis looms in Lombok, where thousands are in desperate need of clean water, food, medicine, and shelter.
"The quake does not have any tsunami potential", Hary Tirto Djatmiko, spokesman for Indonesia's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG), said of Thursday's aftershock.
The US Geological survey reported a 5.2-magnitude natural disaster just off the coast of Lombok between the tourist town of Senggigi and the Gili Islands on Monday at 11.50pm.
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"People are always saying they need water and tarps", Spokesman Arifin Hadi told the AP about the current rescue efforts.
Thursday's quake could be felt on Bali, another popular Indonesian resort island west of Lombok. Buildings still standing on the island have been weakened after Sunday's 7.0 quake that killed at least 131 people and a 6.4 quake on July 29 that killed 16.
Another Indonesian government agency has put the figure at 381, a significant increase from figure of 131 reported on Wednesday. "Then finally you see on Facebook that they are ok - and then you see balloons", she said.
Some aid agencies have given much higher figures for the toll, but the National Disaster Mitigation Agency says those figures are unverified.
The government says more than 1400 people were injured and more than 156,000 displaced. Tens of thousands are now sleeping out in the open or in the ruins of their homes.
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.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said that at least 131 people were killed in Sunday's quake, but other agencies say the death toll has risen to more than 300.
