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Three dead in Lombok after quake triggers landslide

Tuesday, 19 March 20193 min read
Three dead in Lombok after quake triggers landslide

Authorities say three people died, including two Malaysian tourists, in the latest earthquake to hit the Indonesia island of Lombok.

The 5.5-magnitude quake triggered a landslide near the Sedang Gile and Tiu Kelep waterfalls which also injured dozens.

Most of the injured are domestic and Malaysian tourists.

The waterfall is in the same area where most of last summer’s earthquakes emanated from, on the slopes of the highly active Rinjani volcano.

Those series of quakes killed more than 500 and left hundreds of thousands displaced.

Access to the waterfall is now closed.

Buildings were damaged and about 30 residents were injured but tourism leaders insist infrastructure and other facilities in the popular Senaru trekking area are mostly unaffected.

"Disasters can happen anywhere. The most important thing is that we are ready to deal with them," said regional tourism chief Lalu Mohammad Faozal.

The region is still on the road to recovery from the 2018 earthquakes, and Faozal is hopeful this latest quake doesn’t slow down the recovery efforts.

Elsewhere in Lombok, tourist areas including the Gili Islands, Senggigi and the south coast are unaffected.

The Sedang Gile waterfall is one of Lombok’s top inland natural tourist attractions.