In the afternoon of Sunday, 05 August 2018, the district of North Lombok and East Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake at 6:46 PM Indonesia local time. This earthquake exacerbated damage in areas previously affected by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on 29 July 2018, which killed 17 people and injured over 160. The epicenter of the earthquake was 18 km north-west of East Lombok. A tsunami alert was sounded but later cancelled. The worst-hit areas are North Lombok, East Lombok and Mataram City. The Provincial Disaster Management Agency initially reported that 82 people died, and the latest reports from the National Agency for Disaster Management as of 10 August indicate at least 347 casualties, 1,033 seriously injured, and 270,168 displaced. 67,857 houses and 458 school buildings were seriously damaged. These numbers may still increase in the next few days.
Aftershocks are still going on, and the Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) recorded that there were 344 aftershocks after the magnitude-7 quake 0n 5 August. A strong 6.2 magnitude quake struck Lombok on Thursday, 9 August 2018, causing people panic in the emergency shelters.
