Death toll from Lombok quake rises to more than 130
The toll could rise again, as rescuers search the rubble of a mosque which collapsed on worshippers when the 7 magnitude quake hit on Sunday night on Indonesia's Lombok island. Over 150,000 people are in need of aid.
Rescuers with sniffer dogs search for victims on Tuesday, August 7, 2018, at a mosque damaged by an earthquake in North Lombok, Indonesia on August 5, 2018.
Indonesia's disaster agency says the death toll from the earthquake that shook Lombok island Sunday evening has risen to 131.
Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said there are reports of other deaths but they still need to be verified. He said the death toll is still expected to increase.
Nearly 2,500 people have been hospitalised with serious injuries and more than 156,000 people have been displaced due to the extensive damage to their homes.
The magnitude 7.0 quake came a week after an earlier quake on Lombok killed 16 people.
The international charity Oxfam said drinking water was scarce because of a recent spell of extremely dry weather in Lombok. Food, medical supplies, tarps and clothes were also urgently needed, it said.
Rescuers on Tuesday August 7, 2018 carry the body of an earthquake victim recovered from the collapsed Jabal Nur mosque in North Lombok, Indonesia.
Aid began reaching isolated areas of the Indonesian island on Wednesday, where survivors are struggling in the aftermath of the quake.
Volunteers and rescue personnel were erecting more temporary shelters for the tens of thousands left homeless on Lombok by the tremor.
Thousands of people have been sleeping in makeshift shelters or out in the open.
Villagers injured in an earthquake are tended to inside a makeshift hospital in Tanjung, North Lombok, Indonesia, Tuesday, August. 7, 2018. At least 4,600 foreign and Indonesian tourists also have been evacuated from three smaller islands off Lombok's coast so far, Nugroho said. The islets are renowned for their crystal clear waters that draw snorkelers and divers from all over the world.
Water, which has been in short supply due to a prolonged dry spell on the island, as well as food and medical supplies were being distributed from trucks.
Emergency teams continue to search for victims in an earthquake-damaged house in Tanjung, Lombok, Indonesia, Tuesday, August 7, 2018. "The efforts to evacuate people have been intensified but there are still a lot of problems on the ground," national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Wednesday.
The military said five planes carrying food, medicine, blankets, field tents and water tankers left Jakarta for the island early on Wednesday.
A child injured in the earthquake receives oxygen at a makeshift hospital in Tanjung, North Lombok, Indonesia, Tuesday, August 7, 2018. Hundreds of bloodied and bandaged victims have been treated outside damaged hospitals in the main city of Mataram and other badly affected areas.
At a collapsed mosque in Bangsal district, emergency workers in orange uniforms removed a woman's body from the ruins on Wednesday morning. A green and yellow dome rested on the pile of rubble, the only part of the structure still intact.
Emergency rescue team members continue to search for victims in the quake-damaged village in Tanjung, Lombok, Indonesia, Tuesday, August 7, 2018.
Authorities said all the tourists who wanted to be evacuated from three outlying vacation islands due to power blackouts and damage to hotels had left by boat, some 5,000 people in all.
A doctor examines a child injured in the earthquake at a makeshift hospital in Tanjung, North Lombok, Indonesia, Tuesday, August 7, 2018. Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the "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.
The quake was the second in a week to hit Lombok. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake on July 29 killed 16 people and cracked and weakened many structures, amplifying the damage that occurred in Sunday's quake.
Like its famous neighbor Bali, Lombok is known for beaches, mountains and a lush interior. Hotels and other buildings in both locations are not allowed to exceed the height of coconut trees.
Relatives react as rescue teams recover the bodies of victims killed in an earthquake in North Lombok, Indonesia, Tuesday, August 7, 2018.
Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the "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.
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