It’s been a rough month in Bali and Lombok. First there was the fire on the Bukit Peninsula, then an earthquake which struck Lombok in late July killing 17 people, and now just six days later another stronger, deadlier Earthquake has struck Lombok, with 82 confirmed dead at this stage.
Lombok is popular both with Australian tourists and surfers, the latter visiting to surf Desert Point and numerous other waves in the area. However, at this stage there are no reports of any Australians being injured or losing their lives.
The Quake is reported to have struck at the relatively shallow depth of 15 kilometres, which prompted tsunami warnings to be issued. This sent many people scurrying for higher ground, but thankfully no tsunamis larger than 15 centimetres are reported to have eventuated.
Such was the strength of the quake it damaged buildings as far away as Denpasar in Bali.
According to an ABC News report, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 65 of the deaths were in North Lombok district, nine in West Lombok district, four in the provincial capital Mataram and two each in Central Lombok and East Lombok districts.
Locals and tourists alike now face a nervous wait to see if the worst is over, and there have been reports of aftershocks as strong as magnitude five in the region, which only adds to the tension.
