The number of people killed in an earthquake on an Indonesian tourist island has risen from 131 to 319.

Four days after Sunday's shallow 7.0 quake, Indonesia's chief security minister Wiranto said: "The latest update is that 319 people died."

The number of deaths on Lombok, next to Bali, has risen by 188 since Wednesday.

Wiranto's announcement came after an inter-agency meeting aimed at resolving drastically different figures from a series of agencies.

Image: Soldiers unload relief aid at the Mataram airbase on Lombok

Lombok was hit by another earthquake on Thursday, the third in just over a week.


The aftershock reached a magnitude of 6.2 with a shallow depth of 7.5m (12km), centred in the north west of the island, Indonesia's geological agency said.

People were seen fleeing evacuation shelters, screaming and crying, and running from their cars.

Image: The number of people killed in the earthquake has risen to 319

Walls of buildings in northern Lombok's Tanjung district collapsed.

There are fears over buildings collapsing after being weakened by Sunday's quake and a 6.4 earthquake which killed 16 people on 29 July.

Tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across the island were levelled on Sunday.

Image: The quake struck off the coast of the island of Lombok

Relief agencies are only just starting to reach survivors in some of the worst-hit areas.

Wiranto said rescue efforts are ongoing and are being complicated by aftershocks.

Authorities said about 1,400 people were seriously injured and more than 150,000 have been displaced.

Image: Foreign restaurant owners try to rebuild their business on Gili Trawangan

Most of those who have been displaced are sleeping in tents or under tarpaulins near their homes, or in evacuation shelters which are short of food, clean water and medical help.

Those whose homes are still standing are sleeping outside amid fears buildings could collapse during aftershocks.

On Gili Trawangan, a small island just off Lombok, restaurant and dive centre owners - many of them foreigners - are trying to put their businesses back together.

Image: Indonesian soldiers rescued a man who was trapped beneath the rubble of a mosque

"It is already clear that Sunday's earthquake was exceptionally destructive," said Christopher Rassi, the head of a Red Cross assessment team on Lombok.

"I visited villages yesterday that were completely collapsed."

Image: A horse is evacuated from Gili Trawangan, just off Lombok

Rescue workers are using heavy machinery to search the rubble of homes, schools and mosques, but hopes of finding any survivors are fading.

There are fears two mosques which collapsed in north Lombok were filled with worshippers.

Rescuers found three bodies and pulled one man alive from the wreckage of a mosque in Lading Lading village.

Image: Thousands of people fled to the beaches as the tremors hit on Sunday. Pic: Indonesia Water Police

Some evacuees have complained of being ignored or experiencing long delays for supplies.

Kurniawan Eko Wibowo, a doctor at a field hospital set up in Tanjung, said most patients had broken bones and head injuries.

"We lack the infrastructure to perform operations because they need to be performed in a sterile place," he said.