SEMBALUN, Indonesia -- Strong earthquakes cut off power and damaged buildings Sunday on the Indonesian island of Lombok, a tourist hot spot still reeling from a temblor earlier this month that killed hundreds of people.
A shallow earthquake Sunday evening, which the U.S. Geological Survey measured at magnitude 6.9, followed quakes during the day that were recorded at magnitudes 6.3 and 5.4. All were centered in the island's northeast. The evening quake was followed by strong aftershocks.
An Associated Press reporter in the Sembalun subdistrict said the evening earthquake caused panic but that many people were already staying in tents after the deadly quake earlier this month.
There was no immediate information about casualties.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said power was cut across the island, hampering efforts to assess the situation. Some houses and other buildings in Sembalun had collapsed, the agency said.
"People panicked and scattered," said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. "Some people are hysterical because they feel earthquake aftershocks that are harder than before. They heard a roar that probably came from landslides in the hills and Mount Rinjani."
Dwikorita Karnawatim, who leads Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, said buildings that haven't collapsed have suffered repeated stress, and authorities have urged people to avoid both the mountain's slopes and the weakened buildings.
The evening quake, which lasted five to 10 seconds, was felt on the neighboring islands of Bali and Sumbawa and as far away as East Java and Makassar in Sulawesi. An AP reporter said tourists and villagers in Bali ran out of buildings in panic.
The daytime quakes caused landslides on the slopes of Rinjani, an active volcano. Video shot by the Indonesian Red Cross showed huge clouds of dust billowing from the mountain's slopes.
The disaster agency said one person died of a heart attack during the biggest of the daytime quakes and that nearly 100 houses near the epicenter were severely damaged.
A magnitude-7.0 quake that struck Lombok on Aug. 5 killed 460 people, damaged tens of thousands of homes and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
Mount Rinjani has been closed to visitors since a July earthquake killed 16 people, triggered landslides and stranded hundreds of tourists on the mountain.
Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago that straddles the Pacific "Ring of Fire," is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
A Section on 08/20/2018