Fresh multiple quakes rock Indonesia

Mataram, August 19 

Multiple earthquakes —including a powerful and shallow 6.9-magnitude tremor — struck Indonesia’s Lombok on Sunday, sending fresh panic coursing through the already battered island.

Three significant quakes were recorded by seismologists, the first a 6.3 shortly before midday which triggered landslides and sent people fleeing for cover.

It was followed nearly 12 hours later by a late evening quake measuring 6.9 and an aftershock soon after of 5.9 strength according to the US Geological Survey.

The picturesque island is already reeling from two devastating quakes on July 29 and August 5 that killed nearly 500 people and made hundreds of thousands homeless.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the late evening quakes on an island where many have chosen to sleep in tents in recent weeks because of regular aftershocks.

One local resident said the powerful tremor jolted him awake. “The earthquake was incredibly strong. 

Everything was shaking,” Agus Salim said.

National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho tweeted that blackouts had hit much of the island after the evening quakes. — AFP