South African’s PHOTOS as 1,000 Flee Indonesian Earthquake, 91 Dead
A South African chef, on a working holiday in Indonesia, has shared some incredible footage of the evacuation currently taking place from the island of Gili Trawangan to Lombok, where 91 people have died after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake shook the resort islands causing thousands of buildings to collapse. It was the second powerful earthquake […]
A South African chef, on a working holiday in Indonesia, has shared some incredible footage of the evacuation currently taking place from the island of Gili Trawangan to Lombok, where 91 people have died after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake shook the resort islands causing thousands of buildings to collapse.
It was the second powerful earthquake in a week, with the first killing seven people, and has triggered an exodus of tourists.
Capetonian Melissa Delport, author of WHOLE, said her drone photos show the current evacuation status on Gili T. About 1,000 foreign and domestic tourists are being evacuated in boats from the three Gili islands off the northwest coast of Lombok, according to Reuters.
“We are safe, waiting for chaos to die down to get the first safe boat out,” says Melissa.
The earthquake hit on Sunday when Melissa was thankfully sitting at a restaurant nowhere near the buildings that collapsed… although she felt the tremors and says doors were falling out of their frames.
“Slept the night in an open field for safety,” she says. “The fear is real but right now remaining calm and staying safe. People are scrambling and screaming. Smaller boats are leaving to Lombok heavily overladen in rough seas. Praying for all those out there.”
Once the evacuees reach Lombok, they will be flown to Bali.
Melissa’s mother, Sonja Delport, told SAPeople there is no water or electricity on the island, and there is the threat of more quakes and tsunami possibilities, although an alert yesterday was cancelled.
According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the death toll is expected to rise.
The village on Gili T where Melissa was staying, has been totally destroyed. Her mom says she is shaken and traumatised, but remaining calm.
“She has just let me know that the army is being deployed to control the people as they are in chaos, beating each other up to get in the boats,” says Sonja.
Reuters reports that the military is sending in a vessel with medical aid, supplies and logistical support for the island of Lombok.
The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) said that more than 120 aftershocks were recorded after Sunday’s quake.
No foreigners have been reported amongst the fatalities. The number of injured is 209, a BNPB spokesman told a news conference, adding that the tremor was so powerful that it was felt on Bali as well where two people died.
Indonesia sits on the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes. In 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami killed 226,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.
There are currently long lines at Lombok’s main airport in Mataram as foreigners cut their holidays short. Extra flights have been added.
Tourists had been injured as their hotels swayed and people stampeded to safety. One said: “We are just thankful to God and also to the hotel staff who really helped us. Some of them said their own houses had been destroyed but they were still helping us.”
UPDATE
Melissa has not made it off the island tonight… see tweet below:
Be safe @trufflejournal & all others tonight -sorry you did not make the boat ride to mainland Lombok but hope tomorrow is your turn In the chaos that is! #Gilitrawangan #Indonesiaearthquake @ewnupdates @News24 @enca @sapeople @cnnbrk @SkyNewsBreak @SkyNews @BBCBreaking @BBCWorld pic.twitter.com/ACnrLLvTrI
— Sonja Delport ❄️ (@Edelweiss_Delp) August 6, 2018
Extra Photos from Reuters:
