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JAKARTA, Indonesia — A strong earthquake struck Indonesia’s popular tourist island of Lombok on Sunday, triggering a brief tsunami warning one week after another quake in the same area killed more than a dozen people.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but the latest quake caused people to flee their homes and move to higher ground. Authorities said the quake may have caused some damage.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency issued a tsunami warning after the quake struck but later lifted it.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told KompasTV that the quake strongly jolted Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara province, and may have caused damage there.
The quake was also felt for several seconds in parts of neighboring Bali island, where people ran out of houses, hotels and restaurants.
“All the hotel guests were running so I did too. People filled the streets,” said Michelle Lindsay, an Australian tourist.
“A lot of officials were urging people not to panic.”
Iwan Asmara, an official from the local Disaster Mitigation Agency, said people poured out from their houses in panic to move to higher ground, particularly in Mataram and North Lombok district.
A magnitude 6.4 quake hit Lombok on July 29, killing 16 people.
Like Bali, Lombok is known for pristine beaches and mountains. Hotels and other buildings in both locations are not allowed to exceed the height of coconut trees.
Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.