Indonesia’s Lombok Jolted by More Strong Quakes, Leaving 10 Dead

A series of quakes including a powerful magnitude 6.9 tremor have struck the Indonesian holiday island of Lombok, the US Geological Survey says, killing at least 10 people and causing others to rush out of buildings in panic.

The quakes, which could be felt on the neighboring island of Bali, came two weeks to the day after another 6.9 earthquake killed 460 people on Lombok, with aftershocks since taking the death toll to nearly 500, ABC reported.

There were no immediate reports of widespread damage or other casualties from the tremors that started on Monday morning and carried on intermittently into the evening.

“I was in a restaurant when the shaking started. The lights went out, they are still out. Everyone is still outside, not going back in,” Teddy Aditya, an official at Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said from Mataram, the main city in Lombok.

“We are urging the public not to panic and to stay away from buildings and big trees… We are also urging them not to believe hoaxes and false information.”

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman at the national disaster mitigation agency, said relief and reconstruction efforts had been “intensified”. “The rebuilding of public facilities like hospitals and schools is being sped up,” he said.

He said more than 100 aftershocks had been recorded since Sunday night’s magnitude 6.9 quake, which sent panicked residents into the streets and cut power and communication lines across the island. Nearly 100 houses near the epicenter were also severely damaged he said.