JAKARTA: A string of deadly earthquakes that rocked Indonesia’s Lombokisland this summer killed 555 people and injured nearly 1,500, the disasteragency said Friday, with hundreds of thousands left homeless.
The picturesque island next to holiday hotspot Bali was hit by two deadlyquakes on July 29 and August 5. On Sunday it was shaken by a string offresh tremors and aftershocks, with the strongest measuring 6.9 magnitude.
Indonesia’s disaster agency said Friday most of the deaths occurred in thenorthern part of Lombok, with several also killed in neighbouring Sumbawa.
Many victims were killed by falling debris as the tremors rippled acrossthe island, causing widespread devastation.
Whole communities were flattened, leaving cracked streets lined withrubble, caved-in roofs and collapsed buildings.
Some 390,000 people remain displaced after the quakes, the disaster agencysaid.
Aid organisations have vowed to step up humanitarian assistance on theisland as devastated residents struggle in makeshift displacement camps.
They warned that access to food, shelter and clean water has beeninsufficient for some residents displaced by the disasters.
“We’ve deployed troops to isolated villages that are difficult to reach,”disaster agency spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement.
“There are many villages… that are hard to access with motorbikes. Some aidhas to be delivered on foot.” Rebuilding costs are estimated to top seventrillion rupiah.
Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonicplates collide and many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakesoccur.
In 2004, a massive 9.1 magnitude quake struck off the coast of Sumatra andtriggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including168,000 in Indonesia alone. – APP/AFP