At least three killed in Bali earthquake
- The 4.8-magnitude quake struck just as the Indonesian resort island is beginning to reopen to tourism
- It toppled homes and temples in Karangasem, the area closest to the epicentre
The US Geological Survey said the magnitude 4.8 quake was centred 62 kilometres northeast of Singaraja, a Bali port town. Its shallow depth of 10 kilometres may have amplified the amount of damage.
A magnitude 4.3 aftershock followed. That quake was relatively deep, at 282 kilometres.
Gede Darmada, head of the island’s Search and Rescue Agency, said the agency was still collecting updates on damage and casualties.
He said the injuries included broken bones and head wounds.
The earthquake triggered landslides in a hilly district, killing at least two people and cutting off access to at least three villages, Darmada said.
It toppled homes and temples in Karangasem, the area closest to the epicentre, killing a three-year-old girl who was hit by falling debris, he said.
“Nearly 60 per cent of the houses in our village were damaged and can no longer be lived in,” said I Nengah Kertawa, head of Bunga village in Karangasem, one of the worst-hit communities.
Houses and government facilities were damaged in Trunyan and in Kintamani villages, a popular sightseeing destination with a stunning lake.
Known as the “island of the gods,” Bali is home to more than 4 million mostly Hindu people in the mainly Muslim nation. It is famed for its temples, scenic volcanoes and beautiful white-sand beaches.
02:15
Bali locals turn to seaweed farming after losing tourism jobs to Covid-19 pandemic
On Thursday, the island reopened to international travellers for the first time in more than a year after Indonesia’s Covid-19 caseload declined considerably.
The country has had around 1,000 infections a day in the past week after peaking at around 56,000 daily new cases in July.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 270 million people, is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunami because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines that arcs the Pacific.
The last major earthquake was in January when a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 105 people and injured nearly 6,500. More than 92,000 people were displaced after it struck Mamuju and Majene districts in West Sulawesi province.
