Strong aftershock hits Indonesian island of Lombok

A strong natural disaster with a magnitude of 6.2 hit Indonesia's Lombok island on Thursday (Aug 9), causing some buildings to collapse, according to witnesses and the Southeast Asian nation's meteorology and geophysics agency.

Almost 1500 people have been hospitalised with serious injuries from Sunday's quake and more than 156,000 have been displaced due to the extensive damage to thousands of homes. It was centered in the northeast of the island and didn't have the potential to cause a tsunami, Indonesia's geological agency said.

A magnitude-6.2 natural disaster occurred onshore on the northern part of Lombok Island in West Nusa Tenggara on Thursday afternoon (09/08), while the search for victims of Sunday's deadly quake continues.

According to witnesses on the ground, the latest tremor has caused further buildings to collapse.

Facebook apologized for animated balloons and confetti appearing when Indonesian speakers posted messages about Sunday's deadly quake on Indonesia's Lombok Island.

He also says they're continuing to look for people with untreated injuries.

The military said five planes carrying food, medicine, blankets, field tents and water tankers left Jakarta for the island early Wednesday.

The death toll from the Lombok quake has risen dramatically to 347, the government-run news agency Antara has said.

Aid had begun trickling into some of the most isolated regions by midday Thursday, officials said, but many displaced people still lack basic supplies.

"I visited villages yesterday that were completely collapsed".

Authorities said all the tourists who wanted to be evacuated from three outlying holiday islands due to power blackouts and damage to hotels had left by boat, some 5,000 people in all. The announcement came after an inter-agency meeting was called to resolve wildly different figures from different agencies.

Other evacuees said they were subsisting on a diet of instant noodles and needed clean water and bedding.

The Indonesian Red Cross said it had set up 10 mobile clinics in the north of the island. Thousands of people have been sleeping in makeshift shelters or out in the open.