A powerful earthquake left 20,000 Indonesians homeless over the weekend, forcing countless numbers to erect makeshift tents for shelter, reported the New York Times.
The 7.0-magnitude quake killed at least 98 people and seriously injured more than 200 others on the island of Lombok, officials said.
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“People were allowed to return home since last night, but some refused because they were still traumatized,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Board, told reporters Monday.
Government rescue teams continue to search through the debris of thousands of leveled buildings for survivors and victims who require medical attention, according to the report.
Meanwhile, roughly 2,700 foreign and Indonesian tourists had already been taken to the mainland, noted Nugroho.
Authorities tweeted an intense video of hundreds of people, many believed to be tourists, crowding a beach on the island of Gili Trawangan while awaiting evacuation, CNN reported.
Wisatawan asing dsn domestik menunggu evakuasi dari Gili Trawangan, Gilingan Air dan Gili Meno Lombok Utara. Terbatasnya kapal menyebabkan evakuasi bertahap. Tim SAR akan menambah kapal. pic.twitter.com/EZKqwLnQjQ
— Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) August 6, 2018
"It's getting dark now," British vacationer Mike Bennett, told CNN as he stood stranded on the island of Gili Meno along with around 100 other people waiting to leave. "There's no power, there's no water, we're going to hold out and just see what happens tomorrow."
Meanwhile, those who lived on the islands were determining where to sleep. Two homes housing underprivileged children had been leveled, reported CNN, forcing 80 of the residents to sleep outside.
Endri Susanto, who runs an NGO assisting with relief efforts, told the media that the roads in the jungle leading to northern Lombok had been badly damaged during the quake, adding difficulty to aid efforts.
Many across the island, including hospital patients, are sleeping in the streets and public areas removed from large buildings due to fear of residual aftershocks, according to the CNN report.