Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Open spaces in the city of Mataram, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, were full of evacuees in makeshift tents after a new quake 7 on the Richter Scale hit the island with epicenter in East Lombok on Sunday night.

More evacuees set up tents in open squares in front of the State-owned Television Broadcasting Station and near the Islamic Center and other places .

Earlier on Sunday , many evacuees after previous quakes began to to return to their houses , but major aftershocks with a magnitude of 5.4 and 6.5 on the Richter scale in midday on Sunday forced them to run back to the evacuation camps.

The first and most devastating quake hit Lombok on July 29 with the hardest hit North Lombok , where more than 460 people reported killed .

The July 29`s quake was followed by major and minor ones aftershocks but the one on August 19 night was a new one, not an aftershock of the previous quake, the Meteorology and Geophysics office (BMKG) said.

BMKG said it could not give yet details of any casualty and damage to property caused by the new quake.

Though string in magnitude the new quake was not expected to inflict serious losses in life and property as most people of Lombok have been on guard as a result of the trauma caused by the previous quakes.

Reported by Riza Fahriza/Awaludin
Edited by Fardah Assegaf

Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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