A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit the tourist island of Lambok in West Nusa Tenggara province on July 29. (Source: EPA/VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Indonesian authorities are stepping up efforts to rescuehundreds of trekkers who are trapped on Mount Rinjani after a 6.4 magnitudeearthquake hit the tourist island of Lambok in West Nusa Tenggara province onJuly 29.
Accordingto spokesperson of Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management Sutopo PurwoNugroho, 246 people have been evacuated so far. A total 820 people, including617 foreigners, were on Mount Rinjani when the earthquake struck, he added.
Twomountain trails were impassable due to the earthquake. According to Delik news,two helicopters were dispatched to rescue the victims and provide food for them.
Anofficial of the disaster mitigation agency in North Lombok said those stuck onMount Rinjani will be evacuated via the Sembalun trail. The rescue campaignwill be carried out by the management team of Mount Rinjani National Park.
Earlier, 16 people werereported dead and hundreds were injured after the earthquake hit Indonesia’ssoutheast Lombok island, 100km east of resort island Bali. Around 1,000 houseswere damaged in the disaster.
Indonesia, anarchipelago of thousands of islands, sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismicactivity hotspot.
It is frequently hitby earthquakes, most of them harmless. However, the region remains acutelyalert to tremors that might trigger tsunamis.
In 2004 the tsunamitriggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra inwestern Indonesia killed 220,000 people in the countries surrounding the IndianOcean, including 168,000 in Indonesia alone. –VNA
VNA
