REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MATARAM -- A 6.9-magnitude earthquake rocked Lombok Island in West Nusa Tenggara Province at 9.56 p.m. local time (WITA) on Sunday. Earlier, the Indonesian Agency of Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) stated the strength of earthquake was 7.0

BMKG head Dwikorita Karnawati explained it was not an aftershock, but a new main shock. The epicenter was at 8.28 south latitude and 116.71 east longitude.

"By observing the epicenter, we can see it formed a new epicenter cluster, with the distribution heading eastward up to the north of West Sumbawa. So, we conclude that the earthquake is a new activity, which is different form the 7-magnitude quake that jolted West Nusa Tenggara province on August 5," Dwikorita said in a press conference at her office on Sunday (Aug 19) night.

Although the quake activities occured also in Flores Fault, Dwikorita said the rock deformation areas was different between 7-magnitude quake on August 5 with the one that hit last night. Lombok Island is an adjacent to broken earth rocks and is referred to as Flores Fault.

It stretched from Bali to the north of Flores Sea. When it broke, it would bring up a very large energy. The biggest fault appeared 200 years ago and it reoccured lately.

Earlier on the day, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake jolted Lombok Island at 12:10 local time (WITA). According to BMKG, the earthquake was located at 8.24 south latitude, 166.66 east longitude or 32 kilometers northeast of East Lombok district at a depth of 10 kilometers. There is no immediate report on casualties due to the earthquake.

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