Singapore minister K. Shanmugam caught in Lombok quake, says chaos at airport

SINGAPORE - Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said on Monday (Aug 6) that he is waiting for a flight out of Lombok, after he was caught in the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the Indonesian resort island on Sunday evening.

Mr Shanmugam is in Mataram, Lombok with an 11-member Singapore delegation for a sub-regional counter-terrorism meeting co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia.

He was working on his laptop in his hotel room on the 10th floor when the room suddenly shook violently.

In a Facebook update on Monday, Mr Shanmugam said that the delegation was only able to grab the most essential items from their hotel rooms before evacuating.

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Mr Shanmugam took with him his laptop with government emails, he said, adding that they were only able to get more items out of the hotel on Monday morning.

He also shared photos of his bathroom in his hotel room, showing wall tiles that came loose. Other photos showed buildings with cracks and shattered glass on the street.

Sharing more details of his experience on Sunday evening, he said the group had waited by the roadside before heading to another hotel, which was low-rise and had three floors.

A man walking past debris which fell from a signboard outside the Santika hotel following a strong earthquake in Mataram, Lombok, on Aug 5, 2018.

No Singaporeans injured in Lombok quake so far; embassy to closely monitor situation

However, as they arrived there, "people were running out", he added.

Eventually, they went to the airport,where they waited at the airport police post.

"The police officers there were kind," he said, though the airport was chaotic with a lot of people.

In his post, Mr Shanmugam said that he is currently waiting for a flight out of Lombok and thanked everyone for the kind thoughts and prayers.

Indonesia's resort islands of Bali and Lombok were hit by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Sunday evening. At least 82 people were killed and hundreds were wounded, with thousands of buildings damaged.

The quake, which struck at a depth of 15km off the north coast of Lombok, prompted a tsunami warning which was later lifted at 8.25pm local time.

In an earlier Facebook post, Mr Shanmugam noted that while the Singapore delegation was safe, there were casualties among other guests.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.