Indonesia Earthquake: Tourist evacuation continues from islands near hard-hit Lombok

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02:26

Thousands of tourists have been evacuated from the Lombok area in the last couple of days. CGTN's Silkina Ahluwalia has more from the hardest-hit island.

Lombok is still reeling from the powerful earthquakes that shook the island. The magnitude 7 earthquake brought down buildings and houses, injuring hundreds of people. The death toll is expected to rise as the search and rescue team continues to rummage through thick debris.

SILKINA AHLUWALIA LOMBOK, INDONESIA "This is what thousands of buildings look like in Lombok right now. The island went through two earthquakes just within five days of each other. The government is now prioritizing to get proper equipments to dig through these rubbles to find any signs of life."

This mosque is now in ruins, just minutes after the earthquake struck. The Indonesian government believes there are still at least 40 people buried under this destruction.

But getting them out remains a challenge. The government is now working to transport heavy machineries into Lombok to help quicken the rescue process. But the teams are not only focusing on the massive debris around the island.

Evacuations are also ongoing to safely transport thousands of tourists out of the holiday islands of Gili, a 15-minute boat ride from Lombok.

BAMBANG SURYO AJI OPERATIONAL DIRECTOR, NAT'L SEARCH AND RESCUE AGENCY "We have used around three boats to evacuate hundreds of tourists. But we also have tourists that are not willing to leave the Gili Islands but we are monitoring them closely to make sure they are safe."

One of those tourists is Tom, who stayed back on Sunday night in Gili Air when the earthquake happened.

TOM BELGIAN TOURIST "The second day we wanted to go to Lombok but there was really trouble on the pier, there were too many people. Everybody wanted to get on the island at the same time. And the locals also wanted off. The locals went off, all the shops closed so we said ok we are going to wait one more day to get off the island."

The Indonesian government is prioritizing tourists as many of them have been stranded in Lombok's International airport for the past couple of days, waiting for any assistance to return to their homes. Silkina Ahluwalia, CGTN, Lombok.