Indonesia — the morning light revealed the extent of the damage in the wake of the magnitude- 6.9 quake that struck Lombok/ Indonesia.
It claimed 553 lives and injured over 1000 people. It left at least 20,000 people homeless in need of emergency aid.
The earthquake on Sunday, which struck at 6:46 p.m. local time, was felt as far away as the neighbouring island of Bali, where two people died. And it was followed by more than a dozen aftershocks, including one Monday morning that registered a magnitude of 5.4.
In Mataram, the main city on Lombok, which is just east of Bali, many hundreds of people slept in fields or their cars Monday evening.
Some slept in tents, some even slept in the street, thinking this would be safer than staying in their homes.
Many residents found their houses reduced to rubble after the earthquake, forcing them to erect makeshift tents in their own yards, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency.
Blue tarpaulins filled the landscape, as people prepared to spend the nights outdoors because of aftershocks or because their homes had been destroyed.
“We are getting some aid from volunteers, but we don’t have proper tents yet,” a 50-year-old villager sheltering with his wife and children, who gave his name only as Marhun, told The Associated Press.
Human Appeal Australia, together with the in-country partners in Indonesia are on the ground delivering life-saving emergency aid.
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