A series of powerful earthquakes have rocked the Indonesian holiday island of Lombok, killing at least 10 people and setting off fresh waves of panic after nearly 500 died there following a huge tremor two weeks ago.
The quakes hit throughout Sunday, with the first measuring 6.3 shortly before midday which triggered landslides and sent people fleeing for cover as parts of the island suffered blackouts.
It was followed nearly 12 hours later by a quake measuring 6.9 magnitude and a string of powerful aftershocks.
Photo:AP
照片： 美聯社
“Ring of Fire”
The latest tremor comes two weeks after a shallow 6.9-magnitude quake on Aug. 5 leveled tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across Lombok. More than 460 people died and tens of thousands were injured.
The hardest hit region was in the north of the island, which has suffered hundreds of aftershocks since.
Photo: AP
照片：美聯社
A week before that quake another tremor surged through the island and killed 17.
The Aug. 5 quake left more than 350,000 displaced with many sleeping under tents or tarpaulins near their ruined homes or in evacuation shelters, while makeshift medical facilities were set up to treat the injured.
Badly damaged roads, particularly in the mountainous north of the island, have created a headache for relief agencies trying to distribute aid.
Photo: AP
照片：美聯社
Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands, 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 Western 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.
(AFP)
一連串的強烈地震，重創了印尼度假勝地龍目島，造成至少十人死亡，在兩週前造成近五百人死亡的大地震後，再度引發恐慌。
週日整天都震個不停，第一次是發生在中午前，震度六‧三級，還引發了山崩，使該島部分地區停電，民眾紛紛逃離尋找掩護。
大約十二個小時之後，又發生了六‧九級的地震，以及一連串強烈的餘震。
「環太平洋火山帶」
八月五日，也就是八月十九日這次地震的兩週前，龍目島才發生了六‧九級的淺層地震，震垮了島上成千上萬的房屋、清真寺和商家，造成四百六十多人死亡、數萬人受傷。
受創最嚴重的地區是龍目島北部，已發生了數百次餘震。
在八月五日地震的前一週，龍目島已發生過地震，造成十七人死亡。
八月五日的地震使三十五萬餘人流離失所，許多人睡在震毀屋舍旁搭起的帳篷或防水布下，或是避難所，同時建立臨時醫療設施來治療傷患。
嚴重受損的道路，尤其是在多山的龍目島北部，令分發物資的救援機構倍感頭痛。
印尼是由數千個島嶼所組成的群島，位在所謂的太平洋「火環」（或稱「環太平洋火山帶」）上，環太平洋火山帶的構造板塊產生碰撞，世界上許多火山爆發和地震便發生在這裡。
據一位地質學家說，近來的地震是因為印尼群島下的澳洲和歐亞板塊產生碰撞，並對關鍵區域的斷層線施加壓力。
澳洲西部科廷大學的板塊構造及與結構地質學專家克里斯·艾德斯說：「很明顯地，斷層的不同部分正在移動，而將壓力釋放出來。」
二○○四年，印尼西部蘇門答臘島海域發生九‧三級海底地震，地震所引發的海嘯，造成印度洋周邊國家二十二萬人死亡，其中包括印尼的十六萬八千人。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
Global coffee prices have soared to their highest in nearly 50 years due to poor weather in Brazil and Vietnam, forcing roasters such as Nestle to raise prices and consumers to hunt for cheaper brews amid the cost of living crisis. Spiking prices will benefit farmers with the crop this year, but challenge traders who face crippling hedging costs on exchanges and a scramble to receive the beans they pre-bought. WHAT DRIVES PRICES? Production problems linked to bad weather in Brazil and Vietnam have seen global supplies lagging demand for three years. That has left stocks depleted and driven benchmark ICE exchange prices
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