A STRONG 6.3-magnitude earthquake rocked the Indonesian island of Lombok Sunday, sending people fleeing into the streets just two weeks after a quake which killed more than 460 people.
The quake was centered west-southwest of Belanting town in East Lombok, the US Geological Survey said, at a relatively shallow depth of seven kilometers.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries from the latest tremor.
“The earthquake caused people to panic and flee their houses,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told Metro TV.
He added that landslides were reported in a national park where hundreds of hikers had been trapped on a volcano after a quake in late July.
Residents said the earthquake was felt strongly in East Lombok.
“I was driving to deliver aid to evacuees when suddenly the electricity pole was swaying. I realised it was an earthquake.
“People started to scream and cry. They all ran to the street,” East Lombok resident Augus Salim told AFP.
The tremor was also felt in the island’s capital Mataram and on the neighbouring resort island of Bali.
It comes two weeks after a shallow 6.9-magnitude quake on August 5 levelled tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across Lombok.