At least 37 people have been killed and dozens of others wounded after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the islands of Lombok and Bali in central Indonesia on Sunday, an official of the local disaster agency says.
The casualties were reported on Lombok island after they were hit by collapsing debris and concrete, said M. Rum, head of the disaster management agency in West Nusa Tenggara province, on Sunday. The number of injured exceeded the death toll, but the official could not give a precise figure.
"Risk assessment is underway now and the figure will be determined later," he told a local television station.
The Gangga and Kayangan sub-districts of Lombok Utara (North) district were the hardest hit areas, said Rum.
The powerful earthquake, which was initially measured at 6.8 magnitude, but was later revised up to 7.0, briefly triggered a tsunami warning.
The quake struck at 6.46 p.m. local time (1146 hours UTC) with an epicentre 18 kilometres northwest of Lombok Timur in West Nusa Tenggara province and at a depth of 15 km.
The tsunami warning was lifted at 8.25 p.m. local time by the meteorology and geophysics agency. "The tsunami was only recorded at the height of below 13 cm," Biana Rahayu from the agency said.
At least nine aftershocks were recorded with the strongest at magnitude 4.9.
On the nearby resort island of Bali, the quake damaged a shopping centre and scores of houses in three locations, a spokesman of the national disaster management agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, told Xinhua.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK
