THE Indonesia earthquake series that struck Lombok and Bali has caused the island of Lombok to RISE by 10 inches.
By Georgina Laud

Nearly 400 people were killed when a number of earthquakes hit the area, with the biggest, on Sunday August 5, measuring 6.9 magnitude.

It hit Lombok but was felt in neighbouring Bali with buildings destroyed and a number of people also dying as a result of the tremor.

Scientists from NASA and the California Institute of Technology found Lombok has risen by 25cm (10 inches).

They used satellite images to create a ground deformation map in order to measure any changes to the island following the earthquake.

NASA said in a statement: “From the pattern of deformation in the map, scientists have determined that the earthquake fault slip was on a fault between the northwestern part of Lombok Island, and it caused as much as 10 inches (25cm) of uplift of the ground surface.

“White areas in the image are places where the radar measurement was not possible, largely due to dense forest in the middle of the islands.”

The northwest of the island, close to the epicentre of the quake, has been lifted by 25 centimetres (10 inches).

In other places on the island, the level has dropped by 5cm (two inches) to 15cm (six inches).