Jakarta - The death toll from a devastating earthquake that
struck Indonesia's Lombok island stood at 131 on Wednesday, the
national disaster management agency said, as officials warned the
number was likely to keep rising.
Agency spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said nearly 1,500 were in hospital
with serious injuries and more than 156,000 were displaced
after Sunday's 6.9-magnitude quake.
"Rescue workers are still combing affected areas to find more
victims," he said.
The state-run Antara news agency reported that the unofficial death
toll was at 347 in the worst-hit North Lombok district alone, citing
the head of the district's civil protection agency, Iwan Asmara.
"These are preliminary figures that we received from the heads of
sub-districts," Asmara was quoted as saying.
Tuesday night rescuers pulled the body of a woman from the rubble of
a mosque which was flattened by the quake.
The body was found under a large pillar at the Jamiul Jamaah mosque,
rescue worker Bagus Ngurah said.
"So far we have only found one body," he said.
Several other people who were performing evening prayers at the
mosque at the time of the earthquake were believed to be still buried
under the concrete ruins.
"We stood still when we first felt the earthquake, but the sway grew
stronger, so we tried to run before the mosque collapsed," Muhammad,
a worshipper who managed to escape from the mosque, told Metro TV.
"Some of us had to smash glass windows to get out," he said.
Rescuers were also still searching for bodies from the rubble of
another mosque in a different part of the island, where dozens of
people were praying when the quake struck.
Three bodies and two survivors have been recovered from that
mosque.
The quake struck exactly a week after a slightly weaker tremor caused
20 deaths on Lombok, a popular resort island.
Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area known
for frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.