The powerful quake triggered panic among tourists and residents, and was also felt on the neighbouring holiday island of Bali. On Lombok, thousands fled from their homes to gather in the safety of open spaces.

Agung Pramuja, head of the Disaster Mitigation Agency in the West Nusa Tenggara province which includes Lombok and neighbouring islands but not Bali, told Reuters 32 people were confirmed dead, many from northern and western parts of Lombok. He said the agency was still collecting data on the injured.

The highest number of casualties was in North Lombok district, where 29 people died, Muhammad Rum, the head of West Nusa Tenggara province's disaster management agency, told broadcaster Metro TV.

Fatalities were also reported in Mataram, the island's main city, and districts of East Lombok, Central Lombok and South Lombok.

Rum said most of the deaths were caused by falling debris, German news agency DPA reported.

Indonesia is currently hosting two ministerial level conferences on regional security and counterterrorism with Australia in Bali and Lombok.

Chief security minister Wiranto, who is in Lombok with his regional counterparts from Australia, New Zealand, Australia and Myanmar, said that a meeting on counter-terrorism, which was set to be held on Monday, has been cancelled.

He was hosting a welcoming dinner for the delegations at a hotel in Mataram when the quake struck.

"All guests are safe. We decided to postpone the meeting and all delegate members can return to their respective countries," he said.

Singapore Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam, who was in the Lombok town of Mataram at the time of the quake, wrote on Facebook that his 10th-floor hotel room shook violently and walls cracked.

"It was quite impossible to stand up. Heard screams," he wrote. "Came out, and made my way down a staircase, while building was still shaking. Power went out for a while. Lots of cracks, fallen doors."

The quake struck Lombok early on Sunday evening at a depth of 10km. It came a week after a magnitude 6.4 quake killed 14 people on the island and briefly stranded hundreds of hikers on the slopes of a volcano.

Most of Lombok suffered power cuts, local media reported.

Travellers at the international airports in Lombok and Bali were thrown into panic and there was minor damage to the buildings, but operations were not disrupted, officials said.

The quake was felt for several seconds in Bali, where people ran out of houses, hotels, and restaurants.

"All the hotel guests were running, so I did too. People filled the streets," said Michelle Lindsay, an Australian tourist. "A lot of officials were urging people not to panic."

Other witnesses said the initial quake grew in intensity over several seconds, rattling windows and doors, and there were many aftershocks.

The country's disaster management agency urged people to stay away from the sea. However, an initial warning of a tsunami with waves of up to half a metre was later withdrawn.

Saffron Amis, a British student visiting the Gili Islands off the northwest coast of Lombok, told Reuters by text message that dozens of tourists were evacuated to a hill after the quake.

Australian Associated Press