A STOURBRIDGE woman has told of the “terrifying” moment she fled for her life as a deadly earthquake shook the Indonesian island of Lombok.

Primary school teacher Emma Wastsall and her boyfriend were in their hotel room on a neighbouring island, known as Gili Trawangan, when the 6.9 quake struck Lombok on August 5.

She said: “The room started shaking and things were smashing on the floor. The TV fell off and everyone was screaming.

“My boyfriend grabbed me and we stood in the door way. All the electricity went out so we couldn’t see a thing and the pool water had come out of the pool and in to the rooms.

“We couldn’t see anything and wondered if it was the sea.

“When the earthquake stopped we were told to run to the hill as there was a tsunami warning.

“People were lying under rubble, locals were crying and praying.

“Lots of the buildings had completely come down including the mosque next to our hotel.

“We ran to the hills but the whole island was in darkness so the only light we had was from people’s phones.”

She said they had made it halfway up the hill when they heard a noise and “someone shouted the tsunami is coming”.

“People started screaming and running faster and people were climbing trees,” she added. “It was terrifying. We slept on the hill all night.”

The aftershocks continued through the night, she said. Meanwhile - the injured were being carried up the hill in sheets and “the locals were praying all through the night.”

The couple did not return to their hotel until the following morning and” that’s when we realised how much damage had been done” – Emma, aged 28, told the News.

She said: “Some bars and homes had been completely demolished. We were having climb over rubble to get through the streets.

“When we got back to our hotel we grabbed some essentials but then another earthquake happened so we left and headed to the beach to find a boat.

“The evacuation was a nightmare. There were thousands of people trying to get on the boats, people were climbing through boat windows and hanging off the side.

“We decided to wait back until it had calmed down as people were getting hurt. We met some people and made a camp on the beach. We weren’t given any water so people were having to loot shops to get food and water.

“There was an Irish bar offering everyone drinks and scrambled egg but they soon ran out. Four ferries arrived to take people to Bali. However - there was no way of reaching the ferries as the small boats had no fuel so we had to sit and wait for hours. No-one was telling us what was going on. No-one seemed to know what was happening.

“Some people wanted to go to Lombok, some to Bali - yet they had us all together in the same queue and then only one boat to take people to the ferries.”

During that time a further aftershock hit and people fled back to the hills.

Emma, who had been on the paradise island for three days as part of a month-long travel trip, added: “We didn’t get on to a boat until 2am the following morning - so 31 hours after the first earthquake happened.

“The island was still without electric and we still hadn’t been offered any water.

“It was horrendous seeing the locals packing up the little they had.

“Most had family in Lombok and were desperate to get to them. It’s been heart-breaking.”

The couple finally managed to get to Seminyak, on the west coast of Bali, where they were rocked by a further large aftershock which hit Lombok last Thursday (August 9).

More than 400 people have died since the initial quake struck on August 5 and more than 270,000 people have been displaced.