Indonesia has been hit by a second major
earthquake in a matter of hours after the
Lombok region was rattled by a 5.2 quake this evening.
Yesterday Lombok was hit by a 7.0 quake, leaving almost 100 dead and thousands displaced.
Today a second strong quake, measuring 5.2, hit the island region, hampering rebuilding and evacuation efforts.
Witnesses said the quake woke up residents and tourists, who ran out of their hotels.
One witness said on earthquake tracking website EMSC-CSEM: "I was sleeping and it woke me up."
Another said: "Not so big as yesterday but was quite sustained."
The region was also hit by an earthquake earlier today.
The aftershocks rocked the region as the Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said it expected the death toll to rise once the rubble of more than 13,000 houses was cleared away.
Power and communications were severed in some areas, with landslides and a collapsed bridge blocking access to areas around the epicentre in the north.
The military said it would send a ship with medical aid, supplies and logistics support.
Indonesia sits on the 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.
Officials said more than 2,000 people had been evacuated from the three
Gili Islands off the northwest coast of Lombok, where fears of another tsunami spread.
Oxfam said it was providing clean drinking water and tarpaulin shelter sheets to 5,000 people and planned to intensify aid delivery.
The United Nations has offered to support rescue and relief efforts if required.
The Indonesian Red Cross said on Twitter it had helped a woman give birth at a makeshift health care station after the quake. One of the names she gave the baby boy was "Gempa", which means earthquake.
Among those displaced were residents of a northern village called Mentigi, who fled to nearby hills.
Blue tarpaulins dotted the landscape as people prepared to spend the nights outdoors because of aftershocks or because their homes were destroyed.