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Deadly Quake Strikes Indonesian Tourist Island

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A villager walks through the ruins of a collapsed house during a search for the equipment of Malaysian tourists who died during the earthquake at the Sembalun Selong village in Lombok Timur, Indonesia, July 29, 2018.
A villager walks through the ruins of a collapsed house during a search for the equipment of Malaysian tourists who died during the earthquake at the Sembalun Selong village in Lombok Timur, Indonesia, July 29, 2018.

The death toll from the 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia's Lombok, Bali and Sumbawa region has climbed to 14 with 162 injured.

Thousands of homes were damaged, but the East Lombok district was particularly hard hit. Reports say more than a thousand homes in that area alone were mangled.

The shallow, 7-kilometer-deep earthquake hit the popular tourist destination early Sunday, rousing people from their beds and sending them into the streets and open fields to avoid collapsing buildings.

People gather on the streets following an earthquake in Lombok, Indonesia, July 29, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. (Courtesy of Lalu Onank/Social Media )
People gather on the streets following an earthquake in Lombok, Indonesia, July 29, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. (Courtesy of Lalu Onank/Social Media )

A rescue operation is underway to find and evacuate 826 climbers off Mount Rinjani on Lombok Island, including hundreds of foreigners. Authorities say 115 foreign tourists and climbers have already been evacuated from the mountain.

Officials say the region has experienced 124 aftershocks so far, but no tsunami was triggered.

Earthquakes are common in Indonesia because it sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines around the Pacific Basin.

Eva Mazrieva from VOA Indonesian Service contributed to this story.

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