At least 10 dead, 40 hurt as 6.4 quake hits Indonesia
A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Lombok today, which killed at least 10 people and injured 40 plus in the tourist island. The quake struck at a depth of 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) at 6:47 am local time (2247 GMT Saturday), the United States Geological Survey said.
The quake struck 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Lombok’s main city Mataram, the USGS said, far from the main tourist spots on the south and west of the island.
Lombok in southeastern Indonesia is a popular tourist destination, and lies around 100 km east of the resort island of Bali. Island authorities have temporarily closed the hiking trails on Mount Rinjani amid fears of landslides after the quake.
No tsunami alert is issued, but more than more than 40 aftershocks were recorded.
The quake damaged dozens of single-story houses and taller buildings and was felt in a wider area, including in Bali, where no damage or casualties were reported. East Lombok district was the hardest hit with eight deaths. Only two deaths were reported from North Lombok.
Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands, sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is frequently hit by quakes, most of them harmless. However, the region remains acutely alert to tremors that might trigger tsunamis.
In 2004, a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, in western Indonesia, killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean.