Lombok quake death toll reportedly rises to 347

World
Europe

The death toll from Sunday's powerful earthquake on the Indonesian island of Lombok has risen to 347, reported the state-run Antara news agency.

The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of North Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, received a report from all sub-district heads containing data that the number of victims killed in the earthquake had increased to 347, according to the report.

The national disaster agency has not yet verified the number and is still working to match data.

Earlier reports said 131 people were killed and 1,477 others injured while more than 4,000 visitors have been evacuated from three islands near Lombok island.

"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.

(CGTN's livestreaming from Lombok on the aftermath of the earthquake)

Muhammad Zainul Majdi, the governor of West Nusa Tenggara province which covers Lombok, said there was a dire need for medical staff, food and medicine in the worst-hit areas.

Hundreds of bloodied and bandaged victims have been treated outside damaged hospitals in the main city of Mataram and other badly affected areas.

A woman carries pillows through the rubble of damaged houses in Menggala, north Lombok, August 8, 2018. /VCG Photo

Local authorities, international relief groups and the central government have begun organizing aid, but shattered roads have slowed efforts to reach survivors in the mountainous north and east of Lombok, which was hardest hit.

"In some villages we visited, the destruction was almost 100 percent, all houses collapsed, roads are cracked and bridges were broken," said Arifin Muhammad Hadi, a spokesman for the Indonesian Red Cross.

The Red Cross said it had set up 10 mobile clinics in the north of the island as well as a field hospital.

The Indonesian military said that three Hercules transporter planes packed with much-needed food, medication, blankets, tents and water tanks have now arrived in Lombok.

But some evacuees have complained of being ignored or of experiencing long delays for supplies to arrive at shelters.

"There has been no help at all here," said 36-year-old Multazam, who was staying with hundreds of others under tarpaulins on a dry paddy field outside West Pemenang village.

The shallow 6.9-magnitude quake triggered panic among locals and tourists on Lombok on Sunday, just a week after another tremor surged through the holiday island and killed 17.

As workers with heavy machinery clawed through the rubble of homes, schools and mosques, hopes of finding any survivors were fading.

Rescue teams search for victims in a collapsed building in Tanjung, North Lombok, Indonesia, August 7, 2018. /VCG Photo

The tremor struck as evening prayers were being said across the Muslim-majority island and there are fears that one collapsed mosque in north Lombok had been filled with worshippers.

Crews using heavy equipment resumed the search Wednesday for survivors in the mosque, now reduced to a pile of concrete and metal bars, with its towering green dome folded in on itself.

Rescuers have found three bodies and also managed to pull one man alive from the twisted wreckage.

"We estimate there are still more victims because we found many sandals in front of the mosque," Nugroho said Tuesday.

Among other major buildings to collapse were a health clinic, government offices and other public facilities, he added.

Most foreign tourists have been evacuated, a national search and rescue team spokesman told AFP news agency.

(Top picture: Rescue teams search for victims around the damaged mosque in Pamenang village, Lombok, Indonesia, August 7, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP