A magnitude 7.0 earthquake has struck the Indonesian tourist island of Lombok on Sunday, which has killed at least 98 people and injured 269. It left nearly 20,000 people homeless and sent thousands of tourists fleeing.
Rescuers have been struggling to reach possible survivors after the devastating earthquake due to a lack of equipment.
Following another last week earthquake which killed 16 people, this earthquake struck at 6:46 p.m. local time, was felt as far away as the neighboring island of Bali, where two people died. And it was followed by more than a dozen aftershocks, including one Monday morning that registered a magnitude of 5.4.
There was massive damage and most of the deaths were in North Lombok district, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho of the disaster management agency, and some areas were unreachable.
People described fleeing into the open as buildings crumbled, with thousands destroyed. Tourists have flocked to airports, with some told they will have to wait days for flights home.
Jen Montgomery-Lay is a Canadian tourist stranded on Lombok, hoping to leave. “There are no flights available for the next two days,” she said.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is contacting the Indonesian President on Monday to offer Australia’s help to cope with the earthquake.
“We always reach out to our neighbours when natural disasters strike,” he said.
Mr Turnbull said there were no reports at this stage of Australians being injured by the quake. “There are a lot of Australians in Indonesia at any time, so our consular services will be doing everything they can to ascertain the safety of Australians.”
>Juthy Saha
98 Dead and 20,000 Homeless in Indonesia Earthquake
