The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said the death toll was expected to rise as information comes in from areas where thousands of buildings collapsed or were badly damaged, especially in the north, the quake's epicenter. Power and communications were cut in some areas of Lombok, and the military said it was sending in a vessel with medical aid, supplies and logistical support for the island. Lombok was hit a week earlier, on July 29, by a 6.4 magnitude quake that killed 17 people, injured hundreds and briefly stranded several hundred trekkers on the slopes of a volcano.



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