AT least 14 people have died, more than 160 are injured and 1000 homes damaged in a strong earthquake in an Indonesian tourist zone.

However, casualty numbers are expected to increase as the full picture of the harm caused by the Indonesian quake is not yet known.

The incident, measured at 6.4 magnitude, centred on Lombok island, which is a favourite with international visitors, and was also felt in the wider area, including neighbouring island Bali.

However, no damage or casualties have been reported on the isle, which lies 25 miles away.

As many as 60 smaller quakes followed the initial shock, which occurred at around 7am local time yesterday.

A Malaysian tourist is amongst the dead. The holidaymaker was on a hiking trip to Mount Rinjani, where a large landslide happened.

She died when a concrete wall fell at the guesthouse where she was staying, according to East Lombok police chief Eka Fathurrahman.

The woman had been part of a near-20-strong group and the wider Mount Rinjani National Park has been closed as a result of the natural disaster.

Yesterday afternoon some groups in the area reported that they were unable to leave because key roads had been cut off.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesperson for Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency, said most fatalities and injuries had been the result of falling slabs of concrete and other debris.

He said: “The main focus now is evacuation and rescue.

“Some of the injured are still being treated at clinics.”

Television footage showed residents remaining outside, fearing aftershocks, as the injured were being treated on mattresses taken out of their partially damaged houses and patients were wheeled out of a hospital.

Meanwhile, pictures revealed collapsed buildings, with rubble covering streets.

According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre of the earthquake was 30 miles north-east of the city of Mataram.

It struck at just 4.4 miles underground and the strongest of the aftershocks measured 5.7 magnitude.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “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.

Journalist Vinayak Gaikwad of BBC Marathi was on Gili Trawangan when the quake happened, and said: “The tremors were strong – I noticed waves in the hotel pool. A group of us ran out of the hotel. Thirty minutes later there was the first strong aftershock.

“The locals were worried because many of their structures are made from wood and bamboo, but the tourists were the most scared.”