The death toll from the 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia’s Lombok, Bali and Sumbawa region has climbed to 14 with 162 injured.
Thousands of homes were damaged, but the East Lombok district was particularly hard hit. Reports say more than a thousand homes in that area alone were mangled.
The shallow, 7-kilometer-deep earthquake hit the popular tourist destination early Sunday, rousing people from their beds and sending them into the streets and open fields to avoid collapsing buildings.
A rescue operation is underway to find and evacuate 826 climbers off Mount Rinjani on Lombok Island, including hundreds of foreigners. Authorities say 115 foreign tourists and climbers have already been evacuated from the mountain.
Officials say the region has experienced 124 aftershocks so far, but no tsunami was triggered.
Earthquakes are common in Indonesia because it sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines around the Pacific Basin. (VOA News)
Eva Mazrieva from VOA Indonesian Service contributed to this story.
