A strong magnitude 6.3 earthquake has struck Indonesia's Lombok island. The quake's epicenter is located at a shallow depth of 7.9km. The island has been hit by a series of quakes recently, killing hundreds of people.

The quake struck 64 km (40 miles) from the city of Mataram with a population of 400,000 people, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports. The tremor hit Lombok's northern shore, some 6km (four miles) from the Mount Rinjani volcano. There have been no reports of injuries or damage so far.

In early August, Lombok suffered a magnitude 6.9 quake, followed by over 300 aftershocks. A total of at least 436 people have been killed as the tremors leveled buildings. That quake damaged tens of thousands of homes and left several hundred thousand people displaced. It also initially triggered a tsunami warning that was later called off.

Indonesia is located in a seismically active are and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. In 2004 it was hit by one of the deadliest quakes in recent history, a magnitude 9.1-9.3 event that triggered tsunami waves up to 30 meters tall. Over 220,000 people were killed or left missing then.

Share This Post