Deadly Earthquake Lifts Indonesian Island By Ten Inches

A Mosque damaged by an earthquake at Bayan in Lombok, Indonesia

A shallow earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richer scale destroyed tens of thousands of homes and structures, leaving 390,000 people homeless and taking the lives of at least 387 people on the Indonesian Island of Lombok last Sunday (August 5th). The earthquake was so powerful that it lifted parts of the small island ten inches off the ground. 

According to Fox News, a team of scientists from NASA and California Institute of Technology used satellite images to compare the island before and after the quake. They found that the hardest hit areas in the northern part of the island had been raised up, while other parts had sunk between two and six inches.  

The effort to rescue trapped people and start rebuilding is being hampered due to a large number of aftershocks. Local officials have reported there have been 450 since last Sunday, including one on Thursday that had a magnitude of 5.9, which caused landslides, destroying even more buildings. 

Photo: Getty Images


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