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JAKARTA – Efforts were underway Monday to rescue several hundred hikers stranded on Mount Rinjani, on the Indonesian island of Lombok, a day after a powerful earthquake of magnitude 6 , 4 Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency, said on Twitter Sunday night that out of 820 people who were on the slopes of the volcano when the earthquake hit, 246 were evacuated successfully.
He said that 617 of these trekking at the time were foreigners.
Two trails were impassable after the earthquake, he said
had been deployed to take hikers off the mountain and distribute food.
Agung Pramuja, a director of the Western Nusa Tenggara Disaster Mitigation Agency, said that the death toll was 16.
Asdiyanto, a Lombok disaster mitigation agency official, said: "The latest news from the field team are that today all families stranded on the Mount Rinjani will be evacuated via the Sembalun runway. "
By Asdiyanto, who, like many Indonesians, uses a name
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake is considered strong and capable of causing serious damage.
The Lombok earthquake, which struck at 6:47 am (20:47 ET Saturday), was only 4.35 miles deep, a shallow depth that would have amplified its effect.
It was centered 30 miles northeast of the city of Mataram, according to the United States. Geological Survey, but it was also It is strongly oriented to the west on the neighboring island of Bali, Indonesia's leading tourist destination.
Earthquakes are common in Indonesia, which is located on the seismically active "Ring of Fire" on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
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