Two Malaysian tourists have been confirmed dead and at least 20 more have been injured, and several more are still missing, following a landslide at a waterfall on Lombok Island, Indonesia, popular with tourists, triggered by an Earthquake on Sunday 17 March 2019. The Earthquake was recorded by the United States Geological Survey as having a Magnitude of 5.5 and having occurred at a depth of 23.6 km, slightly before 2.10 pm local time (slightly before 7.10 am GMT), and was felt across the islands of Lombok and Bali. One of the dead has been named as Datin Tai Siew, the deputy executive editor-in-chief of Malaysian newspaper Sin Chew Daily.
Datin Tai Siew, the deputy executive editor-in-chief of the Chinese language Malasian newspaper Sin Chew daily, killed by an Earthquake-triggered landslide on Lombok on 17 March 2019. Bernama.
The
Indo-Australian Plate, which underlies the Indian Ocean to the south of
Java, Bali and Lombok, is being subducted beneath the Sunda Plate, a
breakaway part of the Eurasian Plate which underlies the islands and
neighbouring Sumatra, along the Sunda Trench, passing under the islands,
where friction between the two plates can cause Earthquakes. As the
Indo-Australian Plate sinks further into the Earth it is partially
melted and some of the melted material rises through the overlying Sunda
Plate as magma, fuelling the volcanoes of Java and neighbouring
islands.
Subduction along the Sunda Trench beneath Java, Bali and Lombok. Earth Observatory of Singapore.
Meanwhile,
to the north of Lombok and eastwards through the Lesser Sunda Islands,
the Eurasian Plate is also being subducted beneath the islands, creating
a separate microplate. the Timor Plate, with subduction beneath it to
both the south and the north.
The subduction zones beneath the Timor Microplate. Hamson (2004).
Witness
accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events,
and the structures that cause them. The international non-profit
organisation Earthquake Report is interested in hearing from people who may have felt this event; if you felt this quake then you can report it to Earthquake Report here.
The approximate location of the 17 March 2019 Lombok Earthquake. USGS,
See also...
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