At least 10 people are dead after a string of powerful quakes rocked the Indonesian holiday island of Lombok, authorities said Monday, in a fresh blow just weeks after earlier tremors left hundreds dead and thousands more homeless.

The latest quakes struck Sunday, with the first measuring 6.3 shortly before midday. It triggered landslides and sent people fleeing for cover as parts of Lombok suffered blackouts.

It was followed nearly 12 hours later by a 6.9-magnitude quake and a string of powerful aftershocks.

The picturesque island next to holiday hotspot Bali was already reeling from two deadly quakes on July 29 and August 5 that killed nearly 500 people.

Ten people were killed in the strong quake Sunday evening, mostly by falling debris, including six people on the neighbouring island of Sumbawa, according to the national disaster agency.

Some two dozen people were injured in Lombok and more than 150 homes and places of worship damaged, the agency said.

Tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across Lombok had already been destroyed by the quake earlier this month.

Most people caught in the latest tremor had been outside their homes or at shelters when it struck which kept casualties low, said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

"The trauma because of the earlier quake on Sunday (morning) made people prefer to stay outside," he added.

Aid agencies vowed to boost humanitarian assistance on the island as devastated residents struggle in makeshift displacement camps.

Indonesia's disaster agency said it was accelerating efforts to rebuild destroyed homes, hospitals and schools, while Save the Children pledged to escalate its humanitarian response.

"We are gravely concerned about the repeated distress caused to children by the multiple shocks," the relief agency said.

- 'Too scared at home' -

Video images from an evacuation camp in Lombok showed children and adults taking cover inside makeshift tents.

"I'm too scared to stay at my house because it's damaged," said resident Saruniwati, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

"I've been here since the quake (earlier this month). I went home two days ago and now I'm back here again."

Local Agus Salim said the powerful tremor jolted him awake Sunday evening.

"The earthquake was incredibly strong. Everything was shaking," he told AFP.

"Everyone ran into the street screaming and crying."

There were landslides in a national park on Mount Rinjani where hundreds of hikers had been briefly trapped after the quake in late July. The park has been closed since then.

Sunday's tremors were also felt on Bali but there were no reports of damage there.

- 'Ring of Fire' -

The latest tremor follows the a shallow 6.9-magnitude quake on August 5 that killed at least 481 people and left thousands more injured.

The hardest-hit region was in the north of the island, which has suffered hundreds of aftershocks.

A week before that quake, a tremor surged through the island and killed 17.

The disasters have raised fears that Lombok's key tourism industry would take a beating, but the international airport was operating normally Monday with no exodus of frightened tourists.

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

The Australian and Eurasian plates, which sit under the archipelago, have been colliding and putting stress on key area fault lines, according to a geologist.

"Clearly there are different parts of the fault that are moving at the moment releasing those stressors," said Chris Elders, an expert in plate tectonics and structural geology at Curtin University in West Australia.

In 2004 a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

Aid agencies rush to help survivors of deadly Lombok quakes
Sugian, Indonesia (AFP) Aug 21, 2018 - Indonesian aid agencies and government officials rushed Tuesday to help survivors after another series of powerful quakes rattled Lombok island, killing at least 10 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

The picturesque island next to holiday hotspot Bali was hit by two deadly quakes on July 29 and August 5. On Sunday it was shaken again by a string of fresh tremors and aftershocks, with the strongest measuring 6.9 magnitude.

At least ten people were killed on Sunday, mostly by falling debris, but authorities said the death toll would likely rise.

"The number of victims continues to increase," said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, without elaborating. "Aftershocks are still ongoing."

Aid organisations have vowed to boost humanitarian assistance on the island as devastated residents struggle in makeshift displacement camps.

"We are focussing on the basics, provision of shelter materials -- tarpaulins, shelter kits, hygiene kits," said Tom Howells from Save the Children.

"We have shipped enough for about 20,000 people over the past two weeks," he told AFP.

Indonesia's disaster agency said it was also accelerating efforts to rebuild destroyed homes, hospitals and schools.

However, relief agencies fret that access to food, shelter and clean water is insufficient for some of the more than 430,000 displaced by the disaster.

"There has been damage to the water infrastructure which is already quite poor in Lombok due to a lack of ground supply and drought conditions," Howells said.

Tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across Lombok had already been destroyed by the 6.9-magnitude quake on August 5 that killed at least 481 people.

A week before that quake, a tremor surged through the island and killed 17.

Most people caught in the latest tremor had been outside their homes or at shelters when it struck which limited casualties, authorities have said.

Rebuilding costs are estimated to top 7.0 trillion rupiah ($480 million).

Authorities are considering whether to designate the quakes as a national emergency, which would unlock the central government's 4.0 trillion rupiah disaster relief fund.

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

The Australian and Eurasian plates, which sit under the archipelago, have been colliding and putting stress on key area fault lines, according geologists.

Why multiple earthquakes are rattling one Indonesian island
Jakarta (AFP) Aug 20, 2018 - The Indonesian holiday island of Lombok has been hammered by a series of powerful earthquakes in the past three weeks that have killed more than 500 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

The archipelago nation sits on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. But it is rare for one island to be hit so hard and so often.

Here are some questions and answers:

What caused a string of earthquakes on Lombok?

The earthquakes on the island since late July are the result of a collision between the Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates just below the archipelago, geologists say.

Compression of the two plates is triggering activity along a specific geological fault known as the Flores back arc thrust, which sits north of Lombok and runs roughly from the eastern end of Java island to Timor.

"Clearly there are different parts of the fault that are moving at the moment, releasing those stressors," said Chris Elders, an expert in plate tectonics and structural geology at Curtin University in West Australia.

Why so many strong quakes recently?

Lombok was hit by two deadly quakes on July 29 and August 5. On Sunday it was rattled by a series of deadly fresh quakes and aftershocks, with the strongest measuring 6.9 magnitude.

Elders said seismic activity picked up as different parts of the fault slipped and moved.

However, pinpointing exactly what is causing the ruptures is more difficult -- other than the fact that it shows an accumulation of stress.

"The fault will move periodically when tension builds up," Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, senior geologist at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, told AFP.

Could there be more quakes?

It is not unusual for strong earthquakes to be accompanied by scores of aftershocks, but a succession of quakes with a similar magnitude is more unusual.

Adang Surahman, an earthquake engineering expert at Indonesia's Bandung Institute of Technology, described the series of tremors as "quite extraordinary" -- and they may not be over.

"Usually it would take a long time for another major quake to hit because the energy has been alleviated," Surahman said.

"But in Lombok we had an even bigger earthquake after a major one... There may still be some imbalances and shifts."

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
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Multiple quakes rock Indonesia's Lombok island, five dead
Mataram, Indonesia (AFP) Aug 20, 2018
Multiple earthquakes - including a powerful and shallow 6.9-magnitude tremor - have rocked the Indonesian holiday island of Lombok, killing at least five people and setting off fresh waves of panic. A series of quakes were recorded by seismologists throughout Sunday, the first measuring 6.3 shortly before midday which triggered landslides and sent people fleeing for cover. It was followed nearly twelve hours later by a quake measuring 6.9 and at least five more significant aftershocks, accord ... read more