Fresh 6.9-magnitude quake rocks Indonesia's Lombok island

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

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

It was followed nearly twelve 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 told AFP.

"We were all sleeping in an evacuation tent. I had just fallen asleep when suddenly it started to shake.... Everyone ran into the street screaming and crying." National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho tweeted that blackouts had hit much of the island after the evening quakes.

"Aftershocks are still happening across Lombok," he tweeted. "It's pitch black.... We are still coordinating with officials on the ground." - Landslides and collapsed buildings -
"Everybody ran outside their house. They're all gathering in an open field, still terrified," said Endri Susanto, a children's rights activist in Mataram. "People are traumatised by the previous earthquakes and aftershocks never seem to stop."