Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
JAKARTA: The 6.4 magnitude quake hit the central island of Lombok just before 07:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Sunday.
The death toll from a strong earthquake that struck Indonesia’s popular tourist island of Lombok has risen to 14, with more than 160 injured.
The dead include a Malaysian citizen, Indonesia’s National Disaster Search and Rescue agency said, with casualties in Lombok’s northern and eastern districts.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6.4 and its epicenter was 1.4 kilometers (0.8 miles) southwest of Lelongken, Indonesia. It had a depth of 7 kilometers (4.4 miles).
A yellow alert was issued by authorities following the earthquake, indicating that casualties were possible. The epicentre of the earthquake was located on land and no tsunami warning has been issued.
Magnitude 6.4 earthquakes are strong enough to cause damage to property, but their impact depends on their location and the density of populations in the vicinity.
Electricity was cut off in the worst-hit area, Sembalun, a sparsely populated area of rice paddies and the slopes of Mount Rinjani on the northern side of the island.
The quake caused blackouts in East Lombok and North Lombok districts and triggered a large landslide from Mount Rinjani, where rescuers were evacuating more than 800 tourists from the mountain.
As the tremors may have triggered landslides in the area, the site has been temporarily shut down, he continued. And the death toll could still rise, as 162 more people were left injured.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is trying to determine how many people are missing.
