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More than 500 hikers, mostly foreigners, and their escorts were evacuated from a volcano in Indonesia, after being stranded in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake on Lombok Island, some of whom reported their fears on Tuesday.
The magnitude 6.4 earthquake that occurred on Sunday morning was followed by multiple aftershocks that caused the fall of tons of stones and mud that blocked trails of Mount Rinjani, a volcano popular with tourists for its sites. of hikes. About 800 hikers and their companions were in the mountains at the time of the earthquake and 560 of them were stuck in the night from Sunday to Monday. Among these tourists were Frenchmen, Germans, Dutch, Americans or Thais, according to the South-East Asian archipelago authorities.
The prisoners descended Monday evening
The quasi -all 560 fell back on Monday night and "they are all in good health," said spokesman of the disaster management agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. The last three – two porters and a guide – were to arrive at the foot of the mountain at around 19:00 (11:00 GMT), said Agus Hendra Sanjaya, spokesman for the search and rescue agency in Mataram, Lombok's main city. . The quake killed at least 17 people, including an Indonesian hiker, and more than 220 injured, while hundreds of homes were destroyed. While most tourists and their companions came back on foot on Sunday and Monday, at least three hikers arrived by helicopter in Sembulun, a village at the foot of Mount Rinjani, according to the authorities.
(Photo: AFP)
A Thai tourist said Tuesday that she was awakened by the earthquake: "I felt the earth moving and I thought, 'What's going on?' I got out of bed and then saw a landslide and falling stones. A Thai friend of this hiker told of her own fear: "The whole mountain, stones have fallen. I was a bit scared ". An Australian tourist said the earth began to shake about 20 minutes after his group reached the summit of Mount Rinjani (3,726 meters above sea level).
Frightening Seconds
"The earthquake lasted about 10-20 seconds. After, everyone rushed down. On the way back, there was another earthquake that made everyone panic, it was quite scary, "he said. Relief operations are nearing completion. "We have done research in the area (Rinjani), there are more hikers," said Agus Hendra Sanaya. The access to the trails on this popular volcano was banned from the public after the earthquake, for fear of landslides.
Another consequence of the earthquake, 7,593 people are housed in temporary shelters and need water drinking water, according to the authorities. Indonesian President Jokowi Widodo, who made a brief visit to the stricken areas on Monday, pledged financial aid to residents who lost their homes in the disaster.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands and islets, is on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic activity. This country is hit by many earthquakes, but most are hardly dangerous. In contrast, in 2004, a historic tsunami caused by a 9.3 magnitude submarine earthquake off the island of Sumatra in the western archipelago caused 220,000 deaths in countries bordering the Indian Ocean, including 168 000 in Indonesia.
AFP
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