Indonesia Volcano: Hundreds of hikers trapped after an earthquake



[ad_1]

A rescue operation is currently underway for tourists trapped by landslides on Mount Rinjani, a popular Lombok volcano for hiking enthusiasts. According to the spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho there were about 820 people on the 3,726-meter mountain when the magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit Sunday morning.

At least 260 people had already been evacuated Sunday afternoon, Sutopo said on Twitter, while a spokesman for Rinjani National Park said another 109 had been rescued at 2 pm. local time (3 pm ET) Monday afternoon. It remains to be seen how much else has been left or their precise location.

Videos given to CNN by a Thai trekking group, Trekmania, who were on Rinjani when the earthquake struck show huge clouds of dust covering the slopes of the mountain, triggered by landslides ground.

Park, more than 300 foreign tourists were originally among hikers trapped.

A rescue team of 184 people was leaving Monday morning to evacuate hikers, including military, police and special medical teams

  to prepare the evacuation of tourists from Mount Rinjani, seen in the background, at Sembalun in East Lombok, Indonesia, on Monday, July 30th.

Up to now, 14 people across the island have been declared dead following the earthquake, according to the National Disaster Management Agency's 39, Indonesia, its 162 people were injured.

Images of the scene of the disaster showed that the locals were picking the rubble from their collapsed houses and that the wounded were hastily taken to improvised emergency shelters. President Joko Widodo went to the island Monday to meet the communities affected by the earthquake while emergency aid began to be scattered on the island. .

Among the victims of the earthquake was a 30-year-old Malaysian tourist. . Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail mourned his loss in a statement Sunday.
  Villagers pass through a house that was damaged after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Lombok on July 29th. It was damaged after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Lombok on July 29th.

More than 100 replicas

Indonesia is no stranger to destructive earthquakes, sitting on the area of ​​intense seismic and volcanic activity known as the Ring of Fire of Peaceful.

The 40,000 kilometer region stretches from Japan and Indonesia from one side of the Pacific to the other in California

  14 people earthquake on 39 Lombok tourist island in Indonesia

According to Antara, there has been more than 120 replicas recorded by the Meteorology, Climatology and Jean-Paul Volchaert countries, owner of the Puncak hotel in Lombok, told CNN that the region was receiving small earthquakes "every month" but that the tremor on Sunday was the worst he felt.

"We were still sleeping when we felt the earthquake, so we rushed to the outside of our building, there was about 20 seconds of shaking, the water in the pool was making waves big enough, "he said.

Volchaert said that if there had been little damage in his building or neighborhood, serious damage was reported north. "We felt aftershocks for two hours after the initial earthquake, so we're worried that more damage will be done," he said.

Aid distributed in Lombok

The Indonesian Red Crescent He stated that he was sending hundreds of tarpaulins, blankets and hygiene kits to the affected areas as part of his initial response to the Lombok earthquake.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian government has been providing mineral water, tents and food.

President Widodo went to Lombok Monday morning to inspect the damage and relief after the disaster.

"The President will meet the people affected by the disaster and also The Deputy Chief of Mission, Zamshari Sahaharan, at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, said that they were encouraging all Malaysians who knew the tourists in Lombok to contact the consular authorities.

He stated that the Malaysian government was ready to provide additional assistance to his Indonesian counterparts if necessary.

CNN's Mitchell McCluskey, Susannah Cullinane Grace Ow and Cat Wang contributed to this article.

[ad_2]
Source link