At least 14 dead, more than 160 hurt as earthquake hits Indonesia island

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck at a depth of only 7 kilometres. Shallow earthquakes tend to do more damage than deeper ones.

East Lombok district was the hardest hit with 10 deaths, including a Malaysian tourist, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesperson for Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency. The number of casualties could increase as data was still being collected from other locations on the island, he said.

At least 162 people were injured, including 67 hospitalized with serious injuries, Nugroho said.

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Canadian Nancy Martin travelled to the region with her family, arriving in Indonesia on July 21. After five days of touring through Lombok they made their way to the island of Gilli Air, where they are currently staying. “The big issue here is the waters have been very rough and the fast boat service has been cancelled. This is affecting tourism as no one can come and go from the region easily, so the locals are feeling the financial implications,” Martin said.

“Gilli Air seems unaffected, we walked the entire island today ... but several locals told us they came from villages in north Lombok and that (the damage) was very bad,” Martin said.

Martin and her husband were awake when the earthquake struck, though their two daughters slept through the initial tremors and subsequent aftershocks. The family is scheduled to head to Bali on July 31, but with no fast boats running due to winds and high waves, they will have to return to Lombok by motorboat. Martin said what should have been a 45 minute trip will now likely take eight to 10 hours.

The quake caused blackouts in East Lombok and North Lombok districts and triggered a large landslide from Mount Rinjani, an active volcano. Rescuers were evacuating more than 800 tourists from the mountain.

In East Lombok and the provincial capital of Mataram, the quake lasted about 10 seconds, causing residents to flee their homes onto streets and fields, Nugroho said. He said most of the fatalities and injuries were caused by falling slabs of concrete.

Photos released by the disaster agency showed damaged houses and the entrance to the popular Mount Rinjani National Park, which was immediately closed for fear of landslides.

Television footage showed residents remaining outside, fearing aftershocks, as the injured were being treated on mattresses taken out of their partially damaged houses and patients were wheeled out of a hospital.

Eka Fathurrahman, the police chief in East Lombok, said the Malaysian woman who died was part of a group of 18 Malaysian tourists who had just visited Mount Rinjani when the quake jolted their guest house and toppled a concrete wall. Six other people were injured at the guest house.

Fathurrahman said many injured people who were treated outside a damaged clinic were evacuated to the main hospital farther away after more ambulances reached the devastated location in East Lombok’s Sembalun village.

“Residents refused to enter their houses as prolonged aftershocks are still being felt,” he said.

Indonesia’s meteorology and geophysics agency recorded more than 130 aftershocks.

Like Bali, Lombok is known for pristine beaches and mountains. Hotels and other buildings in both locations are not allowed to exceed the height of coconut trees.

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. In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

With files from Jenna Moon