New quake jolts Indonesia's Lombok

An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale struck Indonesia's Lombok Island on Thursday, less than a week after a major earthquake in the region left at least 168 people dead, more than 1,500 injured and 156,000 affected.

The US Geological Survey said the hypocentre was located at a depth of 10 km and 23 km from Mataram, the capital of the province, reports Efe news.

The quake caused people to rush out of their houses and damaged some buildings, National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

In an earlier tweet, Sutopo had raised the death toll from the 6.9 magnitude quake that struck the island on Sunday to 168, adding that official data on casualties was slow due to the verification process.

He referred to informal figures provided by other entities, which in one case put the number of deaths at 381.

The agency also reported that 1,467 people have been hospitalised and more than 156,000 displaced.

The search and rescue teams on Thursday continue to try to locate victims or survivors under the rubble of thousands of demolished buildings.

The Sunday quake occurred a week after another 6.4-magnitude tremor struck Lombok and left 16 people dead, 355 injured and 1,500 buildings destroyed.

The Indonesian archipelago is situated along the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire", an area known for its intense seismic and volcanic activity, which produce about 7,000 earthquakes each year, most of which are of moderate magnitude.

--IANS

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