Indonesia mourns 15 years after Boxing Day tsunami

Yahoo – AFP, December 26, 2019

Nurhayati, 65 (R), who lost her 17-year-old daughter in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami
and is still traumatized, prays at a cemetery containing mass graves in Siron, in
Indonesia's Aceh province on December 26, 2019 (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

Banda Aceh (Indonesia) (AFP) - Thousands of mourners flocked to mass graves Thursday in Indonesia's Aceh province to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, one of the worst natural disasters in history.

On a grassy field in Aceh Besar district where at least 47,000 victims were laid to rest, family members and relatives prayed, scattered flower petals and comforted each other.

Among them was Nurhayati who lost her youngest daughter in the disaster.

"I came here every year because I miss her so much, she was only 17, just started college," the 65-year-old told AFP, sobbing.

"It's been 15 years but even until now every time I see an ocean, even on TV, I shudder and feel like a big wave would be coming soon," she said.

Many people who lost loved ones in the disaster do not know where they were 

buried. Here, a woman walks past people praying at a cemetery containing mass 

graves in Siron, in Indonesia's Aceh province (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

Almost 170,000 were killed in Aceh province alone when a 9.1 magnitude undersea quake struck the predominantly Muslim province on December 26, 2004, triggering massive tsunami waves that also killed another 50,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, even as far as Somalia.

Some half a million people were left homeless by the catastrophe that destroyed much of the province.

Muhammad Ikramullah was only 13 when the tsunami hit, killing his parents and younger sibling. He spent years moving around, living with relatives and his parents' friends until he was able to provide for himself.

A cemetery in Ulee Lheue, Banda Aceh, contains mass graves of victims from the 

2004 tsunami which killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean -- 

most of them in Indonesia's Aceh province (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

"I am still traumatised, I don't think I will ever forget what happened," the 28-year-old said.

The remains of his family have never been found, but like most people who visit the mass grave every year, Ikramullah only wanted to pray for his loved ones even though their bodies might not be buried there.

Years after the disaster, bodies are still being discovered. In 2018, the remains of dozens of people were found in a newly built housing complex.

Some have never found where their family members were buried.

Indonesian tsunami survivor Jony, 48 (R), and his daughter (L) pray at a cemetery 

containing mass graves in Siron, Aceh province, on the 15th anniversary of the disaster 
which killed 170,000 people in the province (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

"I don't know where my mother was buried," Jony China told AFP.

"But I keep coming here because I have a feeling she was close," he said.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to it position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide.

Last year a tsunami triggered by a volcanic earthquake killed nearly 500 people in Banten province.

Related Articles:

As world honours the dead, Indonesia begins tsunami memorials

"Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

“… Mass Human Death

The final one, dear Human, is the hardest one for my partner and the one we wish to leave you with in this channeling tonight. This is the one that my partner doesn't want to even have me talk about. It's the appropriateness of mass death. For you, built in to your very essence is the honor for life, and the sorrow when it passes. It's correct and appropriate that this is there, and never let it be tempered. But the wisdom of understanding is also needed to help you get past some challenges of the Human heart.

"Dear Kryon, was the tsunami really necessary?" Yes it was. Almost 200,000 Human Beings passed over. It's an event that for you is filled with horror, sorrow, emotion, and challenge. Back in 1989, we told you of those that might have to leave the earth en masse, and here it is. Yet even my partner [Lee] asks the questions, "Why the children? Why the poorest parts of the earth? Why the seeming inappropriateness of all this death?"

And I say to you the same thing I said with respect to Terri: Do you understand yet that death is often as precious as life on this planet of many energies and lessons? They are not gone! They're all here [speaking from Kryon's perspective]. They're having a great time! They're joyful! It seems like a moment ago they leaned into the wind of birth with us beside them. We said, "How would you like to participate in an event that will change the compassion factor of the planet so that energies can move forward and provide faster acceleration of vibratory shift? How would you like to help create peace on earth through a consciousness shift within Gaia itself? And they said, "Show us the way!"

Do you understand why we are in love with humanity... that you would love the earth and the Universe so much that you would go through these things? So much of what you see is horrible tragedy, yet you're looking at the heroes of humanity as they deliver a gift that will change the very fabric of Gaia through the compassion created as a wave of humanity responds to their plight.

They knew the potentials and they went through with it. Even the children knew, for they're old souls within their divinity. There was so much compassion created at that time, in that one week, the earth has never seen anything like it in your lifetime. Billions of Humans were involved with a compassion that instantly went to the core of the planet. It went into the earth and it's still there. It changed the actual energy of where you walk and it planted a seeds that will grow that will indeed emerge later in Israel, and those surrounding Israel.

And that's what it's about. Yet some of you didn't want to hear that, did you? But they're here, with me now... and with you as well. How could you fit them all in this room, you might ask? They can fit on the head of a pin! That's interdimensional talk. They can go home in your purse or your pocket! That's interdimensional talk, too. And they've got a message for you that we've given before, but you can't hear it enough: "We did our part - now you do yours, Lighthouse! For the ones who remain are the only ones who can manipulate the tools we have helped create."

When you go home tonight, you're not going to be in a survival situation - in a tent in a tribe with no lights or clean water, with no food. You're not going to be in sorrow or despair. Instead, you go home to a warm place with plenty of food and friendship and the love of family. That's why you're the Lighthouses, because you have time for it. You've got the intellect for it. You're not in survival mode, as is so much of humanity on the earth. You have the education for it and the intuition for it. Now, do you understand why there are so many Lighthworkers in the western world? It's because your culture has created a situation where there's abundance of these things, and it allows you to lead the way in changing the energy of earth, instead of having all your time spent just trying to survive. Does this help you understand the responsibility of what you have before you?

Strike the light and send it to the Sudanese. Strike light and send it to those dark places with governments where there's corruption. Strike the light and send it to the scientists and researchers who already have the cures for the more virulent diseases on the planet, but can't begin their work due to the barriers of certain leadership and their old ways. Strike the light and send it to Israel and Palestine and get on with this solution! This is why you're here, and this is the agreement you made when you arrived and selected the culture you live in.

Achievable in your lifetime, it is. Peace and compassion will prevail. You shall see. You shall see.

And so it is.

Kryon

Indonesia hikes danger level for deadly tsunami volcano

Yahoo – AFP, Kiki Siregar, Dessy SAGITA, 27 December 2018

Indonesian authorities raised Anak Krakatoa's status to high alert, the
second-highest danger warning

Indonesia on Thursday raised the danger alert level for an erupting volcano that sparked a killer tsunami at the weekend, after earlier warning that fresh activity at the crater threatened to trigger another deadly wave.

Authorities also widened a no-go zone around rumbling Anak Krakatoa to five kilometres (three miles) -- up from a previous two kilometres -- and warned shell-shocked residents to stay away from the coast, after more than 400 were killed by Saturday night's wave.

Plumes of ash burst into the sky as pyroclastic flows -- hot gas and other volcanic material -- flowed down the crater, threatening anyone too close to the volcano and raising the risk of rough seas for boats in the vicinity.

"There is a danger of more eruptions," said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

"People (near the volcano) could be hit by hot rocks, pyroclastic flows and thick ash."

Authorities raised the crater's status to high alert, the second-highest warning on the country's four-point danger scale, while aviation officials ordered flights to be redirected away from the area.

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-hit nations on Earth due to its position 

straddling the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire

'Just pray for us'

The new flows posed no immediate danger to nearby towns as the volcano sits in the middle of the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands.

But the status change sparked new fears with many residents already scared and refusing to return to their communities over fears of another tsunami.

"This worries me," said Ugi Sugiarti, a cook at the Augusta Hotel in hard-hit Carita. "I've already left."

Sukma, a security guard at the shattered Mutiara Carita Cottages, added: "Just please pray for us and that everything will be okay."

A section of the crater -- which emerged at the site of the Krakatoa volcano, whose massive 1883 eruption killed at least 36,000 people -- collapsed after an eruption and slid into the ocean, triggering Saturday night's killer wave.

Before and after satellite images taken by Japan's space agency showed that a two square kilometre chunk of the volcanic island had collapsed into the water.

At least 430 people were killed in the disaster, with 1,495 people injured and another 159 were missing.

Children take part in a trauma healing programme in Labuhan in Banten Province 

after the devastating tsunami

Nearly 22,000 people have been evacuated and are living in shelters.

On Wednesday evening, the disaster agency said that wind was blowing "ash and sand" from the volcano to the nearby towns of Cilegon and Serang on Java, and advised residents to wear masks and glasses if they had to venture outdoors.

Early warning system

Torrential rains have sparked flooding in some areas, hampering the relief effort and heaping more misery on the stricken region, as thousands cram emergency shelters.

Medical workers have warned that clean water and medicine supplies were running low -- stoking fears of a public health crisis.

Indonesia, a vast Southeast Asian archipelago, is one of the most disaster-hit nations on Earth due to its position straddling the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide.

The change in the volcano's danger status sparked new fears with many local 

residents already scared and refusing to return to their communities over 

fears of another tsunami

The tsunami was Indonesia's third major natural disaster in six months, following a series of powerful earthquakes on the island of Lombok in July and August and a quake-tsunami in September that killed around 2,200 people in Palu on Sulawesi island, with thousands more missing and presumed dead.

The disaster agency has said it installed new sensors to better monitor tremors at the volatile volcano.

The agency initially said there was no tsunami threat at all, even as the killer wave crashed ashore.

It was later forced to issue a correction and an apology as it pointed to a lack of early warning systems for the high death toll.

One of the hardest-hit areas -- Tanjung Lesung -- is on a list of 10 destinations that Jakarta wants to turn into another Bali, the holiday island hotspot which draws millions of tourists annually.

"We need to have (tsunami) early warning systems, especially in tourist destinations," Indonesia's tourism minister Arief Yahya said Thursday.

"We're going to make that happen."

Maps showing the formation of Anak Krakatoa after the explosion of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883 https://t.co/khXx5ZEzbV pic.twitter.com/5ILZVQX82h

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 27, 2018

Indonesia's Mount Soputan erupts on tsunami-hit island

Yahoo – AFP, October 3, 2018

Mount Soputan volcano spewed ash 4,000 metres into the air (AFP Photo/Handout)

Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia's Mount Soputan volcano on the quake-and tsunami-hit island of Sulawesi erupted Wednesday, spewing volcanic ash 4,000 metres into the air.

The state disaster agency warned people to stay at least four kilometres (two and a half miles) away but said there was no need to evacuate for the time being.

Images showed an eruption visible for miles around, with a cloud of ash climbing in a large vertical column with a mushroom-shaped top.

Soputan is around 1,000 kilometres from the town of Palu where a 7.5 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that lashed the coastline killing almost 1,400 people.

Indonesia is situated on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", a vast zone of geological instability where the collision of tectonic plates causes frequent quakes and major volcanic activity.

Fearful Indonesia quake victims face fresh battle for survival

Yahoo – AFP, Harry PEARL, September 29, 2018

Reeling from the one-two punch of a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami that
climbed up to 1.5 metres, residents set to scouring the rubble and the hospitals
for loved ones (AFP Photo/MUHAMMAD RIFKI)

Terrified residents in the quake-struck Indonesian city of Palu fashioned makeshift bamboo shelters or slept out on dusty playing fields Saturday fearing powerful aftershockswould topple damaged homes and bring yet more carnage and suffering.

Thirty-five-year-old mum Risa Kusuma -- her world upended Friday by the one-two punch of a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami that climbed up to 1.5 metres in height -- camped in her back garden and looked to God for some semblance of protection.

"Please pray for us," she told AFP. "Hopefully, Allah will protect me, my children, my husband, family and the people of Palu."

As rescue workers struggled to reach remote areas and the vast machinery of the international recovery effort geared up, the challenges for Kusuma and other residents of this small seaside city of around 350,000, were basic and immediate: Food. Water. Shelter.

Large queues formed as citizens waited in the tropical heat for life-giving water, and the basic sustenance of instant noodles.

Map of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, where an 7.5 magnitude earthquake 

struck Friday (AFP Photo/AFP)

Essential supplies have been constricted by a tsunami that mowed down shops, overturned cars and ripped up parts of a coastal road in central Sulawesi.

The wave pushed a tangled mess of corrugated steel roofing, timber, rubble and flotsam some 50 metres inland. Elsewhere it uprooted trees and downed powerlines.

Some 24 hours after the quake hit, the city centre was a mix of collapsed and damaged buildings, shuttered shops and cracked roads.

On a main thoroughfare, crowds of residents-turned-looters used lengths of garden hose to siphon petrol from underground tanks at an abandoned petrol station.

Anser Bachmid, a 39-year-old father of one, told AFP the need was acute. "The public here need aid -- food, drink, clean water," he said.

"We don't know what to eat for dinner today," he said, in a morbid echo of a discussion held every evening by families the world over.

The wave uprooted trees and downed powerlines (AFP Photo/Bay ISMOYO)

As night fell, the city was plunged into enveloping darkness, because of a city-wide power outage which has also widely affected cellphone reception.

Just outside the city, families huddled under makeshift shelters built out of salvaged bamboo, tree branches and tarpaulins. Some cooked on open fires and hundreds took up residence on a football field.

But many in Palu have decided to leave. A steady crowd of trucks, cars and motorcycles -- weighed down with belongings -- could be seen streaming out of the city.

Routes in and out of the city have fallen victim to landslides triggered by the quake, reducing roads in some parts to single lanes barely wide enough for a car to pass.

For many residents trapped in this battle for survival, there is the added pain of scouring the rubble, the detritus and the hospitals for loved ones.

"At the moment we still don't know how many victims are still left under the rubble," said Bachmid.

#UPDATE Nearly 400 people were killed when a powerful quake sent a tsunami barrelling into the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, as hospitals struggled to cope with hundreds of injured and rescuers scrambled to reach the stricken region https://t.co/Q8HiHFdg1y by @harry_pearl

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 29, 2018

Map showing the devastating earthquake and population density on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi pic.twitter.com/ZBoLzwBbQI

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 30, 2018

Heartbreaking scenes in #Palu as distraught Indonesians inspect a huge pile of corpses looking for missing loved ones; desperately hoping to say one last goodbye or deliver a proper burial before the authorities dispose of the bodieshttps://t.co/764LWoNbJq

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 30, 2018

Fresh 6.9-magnitude quake rocks Indonesia's Lombok island

Yahoo – AFP, August 19, 2018

The already quake battered island of Lombok was hit by fresh tremors
on August 19, 2018 (AFP Photo/Handout)

Mataram (Indonesia) (AFP) - Multiple earthquakes -- including a powerful and shallow 6.9-magnitude tremor -- struck Indonesia's Lombok on Sunday, sending fresh panic coursing through the already battered island.

Four significant quakes were recorded by seismologists on Sunday, the first measuring 6.3 shortly before midday which triggered landslides and sent people fleeing for cover.

It was followed nearly twelve hours later by a late evening quake measuring 6.9 and two aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.3 strength, according to the US Geological Survey.

The picturesque island is already reeling from two devastating quakes on July 29 and August 5 that killed nearly 500 people and made hundreds of thousands homeless.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the late evening quakes on an island where many have chosen to sleep in tents in recent weeks because of regular aftershocks.

One local resident said the powerful tremor jolted him awake.

"The earthquake was incredibly strong. Everything was shaking," Agus Salim told AFP.

"We were all sleeping in an evacuation tent. I had just fallen asleep when suddenly it started to shake.... Everyone ran into the street screaming and crying."

A dozen foreign guests at the hotel Lina Senggigi, which is in a popular tourist spot, were ushered out of the building as the quake struck.

"The jolt was strong and quite long... Tonight we will ask our guests to sleep in the parking lot. It's safer that way," a staff member told Kompas TV.

National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho tweeted that blackouts had hit much of the island after the evening quakes.

"Aftershocks are still happening across Lombok," he tweeted. "It's pitch black.... We are still coordinating with officials on the ground."

A woman and boy watch as men clear the wreckage of houses damaged by an 

earthquake in Menggala, North Lombok (AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Landslides and collapsed buildings

Earlier in the day he said that the morning quake caused panic but no widespread reports of damage. One person died from a suspected heart attack and there were reports of localised damage.

Landslides were reported in a national park on Mount Rinjani where hundreds of hikers had been briefly trapped after the quake in late July. The park has been closed since then.

Local disaster mitigation agency spokesman Agung Pramuja said several houses and other structures in the district of Sembalun, on the slopes of Mount Rinjani, collapsed on Sunday after being damaged by the previous two quakes.

The structures included checkpoints once used by trekkers climbing the mountain, Pramuja said, adding that the exact number of damaged buildings was still being checked.

Sunday's tremors were also felt on the neighbouring resort island of Bali but there were no reports of damage.

'Ring of Fire'

The latest tremor comes two weeks after a shallow 6.9-magnitude quake on August 5 damaged tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across Lombok.

At least 481 people died and thousands were injured.

The hardest-hit region was in the north of the island, which has suffered hundreds of aftershocks.

A week before that quake, a tremor surged through the island and killed 17.

The August 5 quake left more than 350,000 displaced, with many sleeping under tents or tarpaulins near their ruined homes or in evacuation shelters, while makeshift medical facilities were set up to treat the injured.

Badly damaged roads, particularly in the mountainous north of the island, are a headache for relief agencies trying to distribute aid.

The economic toll of the quake is estimated to be at least five trillion rupiah ($348 million).

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

In 2004 a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

The Indonesian island of Lombok has experienced 30 earthquakes since July 28 pic.twitter.com/3V85JqhOAm

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 19, 2018

More than 2,000 tourists evacuated after Indonesia quake kills 98

Yahoo – AFP, Kiki Siregar, August 6, 2018

The Lombok quake has already killed 91 people with fears the toll could rise
(AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Mataram (Indonesia) (AFP) - Indonesia Monday sent rescuers fanning out across the holiday island of Lombok and evacuated more than 2,000 tourists after a powerful earthquake killed at least 98 people and damaged thousands of buildings.

The shallow 6.9-magnitude quake sparked terror among tourists and locals alike, coming just a week after another deadly tremor surged through Lombok and killed 17 people.

Rescuers on Monday searched for survivors in the rubble of houses, mosques and schools destroyed in the latest disaster on Sunday evening.

National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said there were fears a number of people were trapped in the ruins of a collapsed mosque in the northern village of Lading-Lading. Footage he posted on Twitter showed the large concrete mosque had pancaked.

A lack of heavy equipment and shattered roads were hampering efforts to reach survivors in the mountainous north and east of the island, which had been hardest hit.

Najmul Akhyar, the head of North Lombok district, estimated that 80 percent of that region was damaged by the quake.

"We expect the number of fatalities to keep rising," Nugroho said. "All victims who died are Indonesians."

He said up to 20,000 people may have had to quit their homes on Lombok and paramedics, food and medication were badly needed.

The spokesman said search and rescue teams also rescued between 2,000 and 2,700 tourists from the Gili Islands, three tiny, coral-fringed tropical islands a few kilometres off the northwest coast of Lombok.

Authorities initially said 1,200 people were stuck on the islands but scaled up the figure early in the evening. Some tourists chose to stay behind.

Footage posted online by Nugroho showed hundreds crowded onto powder-white beaches desperately awaiting transport off the normally paradise Gilis.

"We cannot evacuate all of them all at once because we don't have enough capacity on the boats," Muhammad Faozal, the head of the tourism agency in West Nusa Tenggara province, told AFP, adding two navy vessels were on their way.

"It's understandable they want to leave the Gilis, they are panicking."

By early afternoon, hundreds of weary tourists had arrived with their baggage at Bangsal harbour, the main link between Lombok and the Gilis.

Margret Helgadottir, a holidaymaker from Iceland, described people screaming as the roof of her hotel on one of the islands collapsed.

"We just froze: thankfully we were outside," she told AFP tearfully from a harbour in Lombok to where she had been evacuated. "Everything went black, it was terrible."

Seven Indonesian holidaymakers died on the largest of the three islands, Gili Trawangan, while another local woman died on nearby Bali.

Foreign tourists were among those injured on Lombok and the nearby Gili 

islands (AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Night of aftershocks

But it was Lombok which bore the brunt of Sunday evening's quake.

The shallow tremor sent thousands of residents and tourists scrambling outdoors, where many spent the night as strong aftershocks including one of 5.3-magnitude rattled the island.

The quake knocked out power in many areas and parts of Lombok remained without electricity on Monday.

Hundreds of bloodied and bandaged victims were treated outside damaged hospitals in the main city of Mataram and other hard-hit areas.

Patients lay on beds under wards set up in tents, surrounded by drip stands and monitors, as doctors in blue scrubs attended to them.

Anguished relatives were huddled around loved ones in front of the main clinic in Mataram, as medical staff struggled to cope with hundreds of patients. Many were yet to be attended to despite spending the night out in the open.

"I feel restless sleeping in a tent, I can't be at peace," Nurhayati told AFP outside one hospital where she had brought her sick 70-year-old mother.

"What we really need now are paramedics, we are short-staffed. We also need medications," Supriadi, a spokesman for Mataram general hospital, told AFP.

Singapore's Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam, who was in Lombok for a security conference when the earthquake struck, described on Facebook how his hotel room on the 10th floor shook violently.

"Walls cracked, it was quite impossible to stand up," he said.

Bali's international airport suffered damage to its terminal but the runway was unaffected and operations had returned to normal. Disaster agency officials said. Lombok airport was also operating.

Indonesia, one of the world's most disaster-prone nations, straddles the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

In 2014, a devastating tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

Infographic on the Indonesian holiday island of Lombok, where a 6.9-magnitude quake killed scores of people and damaged thousands of buildings https://t.co/PxrElscQ7A pic.twitter.com/a65Z8xV2qE

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 6, 2018

Volcano hikers tell of terror after Indonesia quake

Yahoo – AFP, Bara Elank, 31 July 2018

Hikers were able to start descending the mountain Monday after guides
discovered an alternate route that was unaffected by the landslides

More than 500 hikers and guides stranded by landslides on an Indonesian mountain after an earthquake have returned to safety, with some recalling their terror when tonnes of rock cascaded down.

The shallow 6.4-magnitude quake, which struck early Sunday on Lombok island and was followed by scores of aftershocks, triggered major landslides on Mount Rinjani, blocking the hiking routes that criss-cross it.

Some 800 trekkers and their guides were on the mountain when the quake struck including citizens from the United States, France, the Netherlands, Thailand, Germany and 21 other countries, according to search and rescue officials.

Hundreds managed to find a way down on Sunday and over 500 more reached safety Monday night.

While most were able to pick their way down the mountain on foot, at least three arrived at Sembalun village on the lower slopes by helicopter, according to officials.

Some returned with harrowing tales of being caught out by the quake, which killed 17 people across the holiday island including one on the mountain.

At least 16 people were killed in the earthquake across affected areas of Lombok, 

while hundreds of buildings were destroyed including a health clinic

Australian hiker Stanley Yu said the ground began to shake about 20 minutes after his group reached Rinjani’s peak.

"The earthquake lasted about 10-20 seconds. After that everybody was rushing down," he told AFP.

"On the way down there was another earthquake and that made everyone panic -- it was pretty scary."

One Thai tourist, who reached the foot of the mountain Tuesday morning, felt the ground shake beneath her sleeping bag.

"I felt the earth move... and thought 'Huh? What’s happening?'" she said.

"I got out of my bed and then I saw a landslide (with) rocks falling down."

A male friend said he watched parts of Rinjani's slopes collapse.

"The whole mountain, rocks, fell down -- I was a bit afraid," he said.

Map showing the area on Lombok, Indonesia, where hikers were trapped 

after an earthquake

'Tired but in good condition'

The remaining 500 or so hikers were able to start climbing down on Monday after guides discovered an alternate route that was unaffected by the landslides.

The last three trekkers -- two porters and a guide -- are expected to arrive at the base of the mountain by 7pm local time, said Agus Hendra Sanjaya, a spokesman for the search and rescue agency on the island's main city of Mataram.

"We have searched the (Rinjani) area, there are no more hikers," he told AFP.

"We started this morning at 6am and will continue to monitor the situation for the next three days from our base at the foot of the mountain in Sembalun."

Most of the trekkers reached the base of the mountain by late Monday evening, according to I Gusti Lanang Wiswananda, another spokesman from the Mataram search and rescue agency.

"They were all tired but in good condition and were checked by our medical teams on the ground upon arrival," he told AFP.

Helicopters and search teams had been deployed to scour the mountain's slopes and drop food supplies for those stranded on it.

More than 7,500 people are staying in temporary shelters and in need of clean

water, according to officials

Thousands of buildings were destroyed across Lombok, including a health clinic.

National disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said more than 220 people suffered serious injuries.

A Malaysian tourist was among the dead, with another six citizens injured, the foreign ministry in Kuala Lumpur has said.

A total of 7,593 people are staying in temporary shelters, according to officials.

The 3,726-metre (12,224-feet) Rinjani is the second-highest volcano in Indonesia and a favourite among sightseers.

Its hiking trails were closed following the quake due to fear of further landslides.

The epicentre of the earthquake was 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of Mataram, far from the main tourist spots on the south and west of the island.

The initial tremor was followed by two strong secondary quakes and more than 100 aftershocks.