REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- At least four people were killed and two others injured in the latest 6.9-magnitude earthquake that rocked Lombok Island and surrounding area, in West Nusa Tenggara Province, on Sunday (Aug 19) at 10:56 p.m local time. Two of the fatalities were found in West Sumbawa, one in East Lombok, and another in Sumbawa.

Meanwhile, the two injured people were residents of East Lombok. "The number was obtained based on monitoring of North Lombok, East Lombok, Central Lombok, West Lombok, Mataram, and Sumbawa, following the quake," I Gusti Lanang Wisnuwandana, spokesman of the Mataran Search and Resue (SAR) office, said here, Monday.

The 6.9-magnitude quake's epicenter was located at 8.28 southern latitude and 116.71 eastern longitude, some 30 km northeast of East Lombok District, and at a depth of 10 km, according to the Indonesian Agency of Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG), here on Sunday.

The earthquake having VII MMI (Modified Marcelli Intensity), was felt strongly by inhabitants of East Lombok, North Lombok, West Sumbawa, Sumbawa Besar, and Mataram. It lasted for 5 to 10 seconds.

Inhabitants of Bali, Jember in East Java, and Makassar in South Sulawesi also felt the tremor. Many Lombok inhabitants rushed out of buildings in panic as there were also a power outage and landslides on Mt Rinjani slope following the earthquake.

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.

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