Indonesia Lombok Island Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 500

A terrific and horrible earthquake disaster hit off of Indonesia Lombok Island. This natural disaster has a death toll rate that is at 550 now. This earthquake hit Indonesia’s Lombok island as between July 29 and August 19.  This lead to more than 390,000 people displaced and 76,765 buildings were damaged.

The National Agency for Disaster Management spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho stated in a statement that majority of the fatalities, 466 people, were from the North Lombok municipality as the most affected area. The rest of the victims were from West Lombok, 40 as well as East Lombok, 31 from Central Lombok, and 29 in the provincial capital Mataram. Apart from it, almost seven people were killed on neighboring eastern Sumbawa island and two others on Bali island. It has been further stated that the agency’s main focus was distributing humanitarian aid to the hundreds of thousands of people that are currently in displacement camps. An Indonesian Armed Forces aircraft landed along with 100 assistance packages for families, and also 100 wheelchairs, 30,000 tents, and tarps. Camps are serving clean water, providing medical treatment and materials for shelter. Only helicopters and motorcycles have been able to access the steepest and most remote areas of the island, as landslides blocked most routes.

Lombok island did suffer hundreds of aftershocks since the 6.4-magnitude earthquake shook the region on July 29. Some of them are as strong as a magnitude-5.9. The most serious quake occurred on August 5 with a 6.9-magnitude, killing at least 460 people.

Indonesia sits on whats known as the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, as being an area of great seismic and volcanic activity where some 7,000 earthquakes that are mostly moderate, are recorded every year.