New 6.3-magnitude quake jolts Indonesia's Lombok
Jakarta, Aug 19 : An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale jolted Indonesia's Lombok island on Sunday, weeks after three previous tremors in the same region killed 467 people.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) located the hypocentre at a depth of 10 km and 58 km northeast of Mataram, the island's capital, reports Efe news.
Officials said they were looking still assessing the situation following the latest quake on Sunday.
"The earthquake caused people to panic and flee their homes," the national disaster agency the BBC quoted National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho as saying.
A 6.9-magnitude earthquake had struck the region on August 5 and was followed by over 500 aftershocks, including one of magnitude 5.9 on August 9.
According to latest official figures, over 417,000 people have been displaced, 72,000 houses, 671 schools, 52 hospitals and 128 places of worship have been damaged.
On July 29, another 6.4-magnitude quake left 16 dead, 355 injured and 1,500 buildings damaged.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of great seismic and volcanic activities, where some 7,000 earthquakes, mostly moderate, are recorded each year.
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Maharashtra Congress chief Patole meets Kharge, dismisses resignation talk as 'rumours'
New Delhi, Nov 25: Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Monday dismissed as "rumours" talk of his resignation following the assembly polls debacle and stressed on "collective accountability" for the defeat.
Patole made the remarks after meeting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge during which he conveyed that the result had not reflected the sentiments of the people of Maharashtra.
"Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other national and state leaders were leading Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) from the forefront during the assembly polls. So, we were sure that the trends were in favour of Maha Vikas Aghadi, even the citizens believed that," the Maharashtra Congress chief said.
"If I talk about Nanded, the Lok Sabha bypolls and assembly elections were held on the same day. In Lok Sabha bypolls, our candidate was winning in six assembly seats, whereas, in the assembly elections, we are not winning even a single seat," he said, adding that there cannot be such a "huge difference".
This is the sentiment among the people also and they have stated that this government in Maharashtra was not being formed on their votes, he claimed.
"So, I spoke to Mallikarjun Kharge on this," he added.
Asked whether he had offered to resign or the party had asked for his resignation after the Maharashtra assembly polls defeat, Patole said, "These are all rumours and there is no truth in them. There is collective accountability."
Patole also said he will meet Rahul Gandhi in a day or two and discuss all issues.
"Democracy is being finished. We have discussed that... there was no talk of resignation," he said.
The MVA alliance, comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Shiv Sena (UBT), was restrained to 46 seats by the Mahayuti that reaped a rich harvest of 230 seats in the 288-member House.
