Another strong earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 has hit Indonesia’s Lombok island, causing some buildings to collapse, according to witnesses and Geoscience Australia.

It’s the third big quake to hit Lombok in little over a week.

Witnesses in the north of the island said people ran out onto roads in panic and some buildings collapsed.

Buildings still standing on the island have been weakened after Sunday’s 6.9 quake that killed at least 131 people and a 6.4 quake on July 29 that killed 16.

The governor of the province that includes Lombok where the quake was centred, the military, the national search and rescue agency and regent of North Lombok all issued different death tolls for Sunday’s earthquake that ranged from 226 to 381.

Tens of thousands of people have been left homeless on the island.

Geoscience Australia and the United States Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude-5.9.

Earlier, Indonesia’s geological agency said the quake on Thursday afternoon had a magnitude of 6.2 and was shallow, at a depth of 12 kilometres, centred in the north-west of the island.

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

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), tweeted vision of the quake on Twitter.

“Evacuees and people ran out of houses when they felt the strong shake of the 6.2 magnitude quake … People are still traumatised. Some buildings were damaged further because of this quake.”

A witness said the latest quake sent people into the streets in panic and caused buildings to collapse.

The Indonesian Red Cross said earlier today 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.

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

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

It is at this time unclear how this latest earthquake may have affected an already dire situation.

source abc.net.au