The Indonesian island of Lombok has been shaken by a third big earthquake in more than a week as authorities say the death toll from an earlier quake has reached at least 259.

Key points: Buildings still standing on the island have been weakened after Sunday's 6.9 quake

Buildings still standing on the island have been weakened after Sunday's 6.9 quake Estimates on death tolls for Sunday's earthquake range from 131 to 381

Estimates on death tolls for Sunday's earthquake range from 131 to 381 An estimated 20,000 people in remote areas in the north of the island were in need of aid after earlier quake

People ran onto roads in panic and buildings were damaged by the magnitude-5.9 quake, causing more "trauma," national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.



Buildings still standing on the island have been weakened after Sunday's 6.9 quake that killed at least 259 people, according to Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency, and a 6.4 quake on July 29 that killed 16.

Conflicting reports over the number of people killed in Sunday's quake continued, with Indonesia's top security minister, Wiranto, telling reporters the death toll had risen to 319.

Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed in the 6.9 quake and more than 150,000 people are homeless.

Aid agencies say they are still finding many people with untreated injuries. ( AP: Firdia Lisnawati )

Geoscience Australia and the United States Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude-5.9 after Indonesia's geological agency earlier reported the quake had a magnitude of 6.2 and was shallow, at a depth of 12 kilometres.

It also said the quake's epicentre was on land so there was no risk of a tsunami.

'People were just very scared and frightened'

Bricks piled on the road after a third earthquake struck Indonesia's Lombok. ( Supplied: Jodie Epper )

Hobart woman Jodie Epper, who has been living in Lombok for six months, said she was preparing to drive donated goods to quake victims in the island's north when the latest quake struck.

"We ran out on the street, there was a lot of shaking," she said.

"Some of the dividing walls between properties fell down, but mostly people were just very scared and frightened."

A baby injured in the earthquakes is treated in Mataram, Lombok. ( AP: Firdia Lisnawati )

Ms Epper said she and her family felt safe. They have been sleeping in the local school, with a hill close by to climb in case of tsunami warnings.

However, she said there has been tremors shaking the ground every day and the "cumulative effect on people is really starting to show".

"I've seen tens of buildings collapsed and I've just come into my village where my husband and son were and again, all the walls that haven't fallen down have fallen down and a few other houses have fallen down," she said.

"No-one has been injured in my village but I don't know if there have been any other injuries in other parts of the island."

Rubble lies on the floor inside a house hit by Thursday's earthquake. ( Supplied: Jodie Epper )

The founder and head of Lombok Forgotten Children emergency aid foundation, Endri Susanto, told the ABC his home was totally broken.

"My house is like, totally flat and we can't do anything," he said.

"… I cannot described how sad people are when you are ask [about] their house, when their house is nothing at the moment."

Approximately 20,000 people already in need of aid

A woman injured in an earthquake is treated in Lombok. ( AP: Firdia Lisnawati )

Earlier today, the Indonesian Red Cross said an estimated 20,000 people in remote areas in the north of the island were in need of aid.

Spokesman Arifin Hadi said tens of thousands of people were left homeless and in need of clean water and tarpaulins.

Grieving relatives were burying their dead and medics tended to people whose broken limbs had not yet been treated in the days since Sunday's quake.

At this time it is unclear how this latest earthquake may have affected an already dire situation.

Mr Hadi said the agency had sent 20 water trucks to five remote areas, including one village of about 1,200 households.

Sorry, this video has expired People panic as aftershocks hit the Indonesian island of Lombok.

He said they were also continuing to look for people with untreated injuries.

Mr Susanto said that the biggest obstacle in getting aid to the people of Lombok was the traffic on the route out.

"Last time I go to northern part of Lombok I need only one hour and one-and-a-half hour. Now we need like four hour," he said.

"So now it's like a traffic jam, it's very, very long to the northern part of Lombok."

Aid had just begun reaching isolated areas of the Indonesian island when the third earthquake struck on Thursday. ( AP: Tatan Syuflana )

In Kopang Daya, injured villagers got their first proper treatment on Thursday after medics arrived with a portable X-ray and other supplies.

Officials said about three quarters of Lombok's rural north had been without electricity since Sunday, although power had been restored in most areas before the latest quake hit.

Aid workers have found some hamlets hard to reach because bridges and roads were torn up by the disaster.

Thousands of tourists have left Lombok since Sunday, fearing further earthquakes. Some left on extra flights provided by airlines and others on ferries to the neighbouring island of Bali.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

In December 2004, a massive magnitude-9.1 earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Reuters/AP