A rescue operation is underway to rescue hundreds of tourists trapped by landslides on Indonesia’s Mount Rinjani, after an earthquake killed 16 people.
Over 160 rescuers are expected to reach a crater lake where the foreign and Indonesian trekkers are trapped by late afternoon. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said more than 680 people are stranded on Rinjani from 25+ countries, including more than 330 from Thailand.
The Mount Rinjani National Park chief, who uses one name, Sudiyono says,
“Providing food and medicine to them as soon as possible is now our priority.”
More than 1,400 houses were damaged in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that was felt on neighboring Bali, where no damage or casualties were reported.
Shallow earthquakes tend to do more damage than deeper ones. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck at a depth of only 4.4 miles.
East Lombok district was the hardest hit and the number of casualties could increase as data was still being collected from other locations on the island. Indonesia’s meteorology and geophysics agency has recorded more than 270 aftershocks.
Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Ocean. In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
#NewThisMorning #HappeningNow Rescuers are trying to save hundreds of people trapped on a volcano after a deadly earthquake hits Indonesia. #New images show what rescuers are dealing with. #LiveDesk @WLOS_13 https://t.co/mzQPeJnLaM pic.twitter.com/4PBUAEniKO
— Karen Zatkulak (@WLOSKaren) July 30, 2018
A 6.4-magnitude earthquake has struck an island in Indonesia popular among tourists, trapping hundreds of hikers on top of a volcano and killing more than a dozen people https://t.co/QatwGfbz2U pic.twitter.com/zr4HnigHGT
— CNN (@CNN) July 30, 2018
(Photo, Twitter; via Weather.com)
