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Another Earthquake Hits Indonesia's Lombok

by VOA News

   A 6.9 magnitude earthquake has struck the Indonesian island of Lombok
   Sunday, just hours after a 6.3 magnitude quake shook the island,
   according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

   Two smaller quakes were reported around the same time.

   Sunday's quakes triggered landslides and forced residents to flee, but
   no deaths were immediately reported. The quakes come just two weeks
   after an earthquake on the same island left more than 400 dead.

   Landslides were reported in a national park Sunday on Mount Rinjani,
   where hundreds were trapped after a July 29th earthquake that killed 17
   people. The park has been closed since then.

   The August 5th quake, which struck off the waters north of Lombok
   island with a magnitude of 6.9, killed 436 people and forced more than
   350,000 people to flee their homes.

   Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific
   "Ring of Fire,'' an arc of volcanoes and geologic fault lines in the
   Pacific Ocean Basin. In December 2004, a magnitude-9.1 earthquake off
   Sumatra island triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a
   dozen countries.