Death toll from Indonesia earthquake hits 98

The death toll arising from a 6.9 earthquake which struck 3km from Loloan about 31km underground in the Indonesian island of Lombok has risen from 82 to 98 according to rescue operatives.

Meanwhile, a woman was pulled alive from a collapsed building two days after the powerful earthquake which also destroyed villages and left thousands of people homeless.

Reports say the rescued victim, Nadia Revanale, 23, was shopping in a minimart in Pemenang at the time of the tremor which got her trapped in a debris.

Neighbours heard the victim’s cries for help from the mangled concrete and alerted rescuers, who took four hours to extract her.

“First we used our hands to clear the debris, then hammers, chisels and machines to slowly remove the pieces,” Marcos Eric, a volunteer rescue worker from a mining company, told Reuters after an ambulance had taken the woman away. “It took many hours but we’re thankful it worked and this person was found alive.”

The earthquake struck moments after authorities briefly issued a tsunami warning, which was later cancelled.

According to Muhammad Rum, the head of the local disaster agency, most of the deaths were caused by falling debris, with hundreds injured and thousands of homes damaged.

“Please go to a place with higher ground, while remaining calm and not panicking,” Dwikorita Karnawati, head of the agency for meteorology, climatology and geophysics, told local TV.

The incident comes a week after a magnitude-6.4 quake killed at least 17, injured more than 160 and damaged hundreds of buildings.