Over 2,000 tourists evacuated due to Lombok earthquake

Jakarta (VNA) – More than 2,000 tourists have been evacuated to safe places on August 6 after a magnitude 7 earthquake killed at least 98 people on the resort island of Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

Rescuers are still searching for survivors in ruined houses, temples and schools due to the earthquake on August 5.

About 2,000-2,700 tourists were evacuated from Gili islands off the northwest coast of Lombok, where fears of another tsunami spread.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB)’s spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that the death toll is likely to rise, and all the dead victims were Indonesian.

The earthquake forced about 20,000 people to leave their houses in Lombok, leading to an urgent demand for food and medicine.

Meanwhile, the shortage of heavy machinery and the damage of roads hindered rescuers from saving the survivors in northern and eastern mountainous region of Lombok, the hardest hit areas by the disaster.

Authorities of Northern Lombok said that about 80 percent of the areas have been damaged by earthquake. Some regions of Lombok have still suffered from power loss.

The Bali International Airport and Lombok Airport have maintained their normal operations.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes. In 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami killed 226,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.-VNA