World
Strong 7.0 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Indonesia’s Lombok Leaving Over 82 People Dead
Indonesia's resort island of Lombok hit by a second earthquake in one week
A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.0 hit Indonesia’s resort island of Lombok on Sunday evening leaving almost 82 dead and hundreds wounded. This is the second deadly quake that has hit Lombok in the last one week. Late last month, another powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck the tourist island killed 14 people.
The US Geological Survey said the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Lombok at a depth of 10.5 kilometers (6 miles). Its epicenter was about 2 kilometers (1 mile) east-southeast of Loloan. It was followed by two further secondary quakes and more than two dozen aftershocks. The quake even shook the neighboring island of Bali, one of Southeast Asia’s leading destinations.
The latest quake led to a brief tsunami warning, which was later canceled. Dwikorita Karnawati, head of Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, issued a tsunami warning after the quake struck. However, she later confirmed to MetroTV that the tsunami warning had ended. Notably, high waves of around 15 centimeters were detected in three villages.
Due to the quake, some parts of Lombok remained without electricity on Monday. The rescue officials are claiming that much of the damage had hit Lombok’s main city of Mataram.
According to National Disaster Agency spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the search and rescue team is still scouring the scene and searching for survivors in the rubble of thousands of buildings that got destroyed in the disaster.
Nugroho said that 65 people died in North Lombok district alone, nine in West Lombok district, four in Mataram and two each in Central Lombok and East Lombok districts. He is estimating that the number of victims will rise as the rescue operations continue in the area.
As Indonesia is located on the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin, it is very much prone to earthquakes. A massive earthquake of 9.1 magnitude off Sumatra island resulted in a tsunami In December 2004 that killed over 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
