Powerful earthquake leaves a trail of destruction in Bali – as tourists brace for aftershocks and locals claim dead fish washing ashore means a tsunami is imminent

• A 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit Bali shortly after 8am local time on Tuesday
• Tourists were evacuated from their hotels after the strong earthquake hit
• Locals now believe a tsunami is on its way after an ominous warning with fish
• They say fish also washed ashore before the deadly 2004 tsunami hit
• Witnesses have reported the ‘walls of their house were shaking and dancing’ 

Tourists have been warned to brace for aftershocks to hit Bali after a 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck the region on Tuesday.

People staying in the island’s resort region near Seminyak, Canggu and Kuta were woken at 8am local time by the walls of their houses shaking.

The quake was downgraded to a 5.7 magnitude after initial reports suggested it was a 6.2, but locals feared a tsunami may not be far away despite official denials of any such risk.

Footage of fish washed ashore in Canggu was an ominous sign that a tsunami may hit, some locals warned.

They said a similar phenomenon occurred before the 2004 tsunami which killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most in Indonesia.

People check a damaged temple in Bali, Indonesia after the earthquake hit on Tuesday morning

Tourists have been warned to brace for aftershocks to hit Bali after a 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck the region on Tuesday

But officials said the phenomenon is common for this season.

‘We know that there were fish that washed ashore and it’s been linked to the earthquake. Let us reaffirm that those two events are not correlated in any way,’ Iman Fatchurochman, who heads Data and Information Department at Indonesia’s Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency, said.

Footage of the eerie fish phenomenon was shared more than 20,000 times on Facebook.

‘This is similar to what happened before the tsunami in Aceh, hope everything will be okay,’ one user commented.

‘This also happened in Lombok, after the fish washed ashore, a 7.0 earthquake struck in the evening. I hope it doesn’t happen again, amen,’ another user said.

The video was posted less than a day before the earthquake hit the region.   

Tourists were evacuated from their hotels in Seminyak on the southern end of Bali, after the underwater earthquake hit just south of the Indonesian island.  

While it was initially recorded as a 6.2 magnitude, EMSC later downgraded it to a 5.7 magnitude earthquake

Tourists were evacuated from their hotels in Seminyak on the southern end of Bali, after the underwater earthquake hit just south of the Indonesian island

The earthquake was estimated to have occurred 100km below ground.

According to European earthquake monitoring agency EMSC, the epicentre was 102km southwest of Denpasar. 

An estimated eight million people felt the quake, the EMSC reported. 

The Indonesian agency that monitors earthquakes, BMKG, urged locals and tourists to remain calm.

Locals rushed to collect fish which washed ashore in the hours before the earthquake hit

Some buildings have also suffered damages with witnesses experiencing the ceiling of their bedroom collapsing completely

‘Check and make sure your building is earthquake resistant, and that there is no damage due to earthquake vibrations that endanger the stability of the building before you return to your house,’ it said.

Locals and tourists in Kuta, Seminyak and Ubud reported feeling the tremor that was ‘strong but short’, lasting about ten seconds. 

Some buildings have also suffered damages with witnesses reporting rocks collapsing off the entrance to a hotel at Nusa Dua. 

Hotel guests staying at the Courtyard by Marriott Resort in Seminyak were pictured being evacuated to the front of the hotel following the earthquake.

Tourists are being evacuated from their hotels in Seminyak on the southern end of Bali, after the strong earthquake hit just south of the Indonesian island 

A tourist staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bali woke to ‘major rattling’ but didn’t see any damages.  

Witnesses reported the ‘walls of their house were shaking and dancing’ as strong tremors hit the island.

‘Wow! Felt a pretty big earthquake here in Ubud, Bali just now. No damage just a big shake,’ one witness wrote on Twitter. 

‘Second earthquake in less than a week here in Ubud, Bali, bigger than the last one at 6.2 magnitude!’ another user said.  

‘Woke up to a shaking bed – a strong earthquake in Bali,’ one user tweeted. 

Some buildings have also suffered damages with witnesses reporting rocks collapsing off the entrance to a hotel at Nusa Dua (pictured) 

Some local schools sent students home and closed for the day after parts of the buildings were damaged 

‘Doing yoga in Bali just now and experienced my first earthquake,’ another tourist wrote.

‘We were right next to the ocean and all our eyes turned to the water. Tsunamis are my biggest natural disaster fear.’  

Local schools sent students home and closed for the day after parts of the buildings were damaged. 

In Pura Agung Lokanatha, a Hindu Temple experienced significant damage with images showing bricks had fallen away from the structure. 

The earthquake was the third to hit the region in three days, after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia’s Moluccas island and killed two people.

On Sunday afternoon a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit the Indian Ocean just off the coast of Broome in Western Australia. 

Hotel guests staying at the Courtyard by Marriott Resort in Seminyak were picture being evacuated to the front of the hotel following the earthquake (pictured) 

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