NTT Earthquake Tremors Felt Strongly as Far as Lombok, Residents Panic and Flee

A magnitude 7.0 tectonic earthquake shook the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) region in the early hours of Saturday (15/8). The strong tremors were even felt as far as Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

According to data from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the earthquake occurred at 05:58 WITA. The epicentre was located north of Mbay, Nagekeo Regency, NTT, at coordinates 8.33 degrees South Latitude and 121.32 degrees East Longitude, with a depth of 10 kilometres.

The tremors that propagated to Lombok caused residents to panic. At the Puri Anggrek Housing Complex in Mataram City, NTB, a number of residents who had just finished worshipping or were cleaning their homes immediately rushed outside into the middle of the road.

“The earthquake was startling because it happened during the busy hour of preparing children for school,” said one Mataram resident, Veronika, on Saturday (15/8).

Veronika revealed that the earthquake tremors felt like a swaying motion and lasted quite a long time. As a result, she admitted that her head felt dizzy, similar to the effect of jet lag after travelling by aeroplane.

Similar panic was felt by another Lombok resident, Adam. He admitted that he was awakened from his sleep when the shaking occurred.

“Earlier, while I was sleeping, suddenly all the objects in the room were swaying. It turned out to be an earthquake. I hope nothing bad happens in the epicentre area,” said Adam.

Following the incident, BMKG issued a tsunami early warning. Based on BMKG monitoring, tsunami waves were detected at several points in the NTT region, namely in Labuan Bajo at 0.36 metres, Sikka at 0.19 metres, and Dompu at 0.17 metres.

BMKG urged the public to remain calm and to continue monitoring official information regarding the development of the situation and the potential for aftershocks.