Lombok earthquake: alumni witness report

Alumnus Dr. David Robinson (Worcester 1997) sent us this brief update, having witnessed the magnitude 6.9 Lombok, Indonesia earthquake where more than 90 deaths and many more injuries have been reported.

“Greetings from Bali where I am on honeymoon. Just thought I’d drop you a quick email to tell you about my experiences of the recent Mw 6.9 Lombok earthquake. We were sat in the bar of our hotel having a cocktail when the shaking started. I knew it was an earthquake straight away but the shaking started gradually so I didn’t really think that it was a big earthquake until the shaking had been happening for a couple of seconds. Then the hotel staff started to get people outside. The bar was right by the outside so we were out in a courtyard in a couple of seconds. The shaking lasted for about 10-15 seconds – definitely with the side-to-side action of the Love waves being more pronounced (appropriate for our honeymoon!). None of the shaking here was enough to cause any damage here but everyone is a bit jittery – not helped by an aftershock about an hour later that was felt but the shaking only lasted for a couple of seconds. In contrast I’m finding it all very exciting – it’s not every day you get to experience a magnitude 7 earthquake at a safe distance.”

Find out more about the earthquakes in Lombok via the USGS interactive website.

Image: the department’s seismology monitor display, showing the recent earthquake tremors.