UPDATE 2 - 7.0 quake rocks eastern Indonesia; 37 dead

UPDATES WITH CASUALTIES; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Mahmut Atanur

JAKARTA (AA) – At least 37 people died when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook eastern Indonesia on Sunday, according to local media reports.

Indonesia's national news agency Antara said the number of dead climbed to 37, citing Agung Pramudja, head of the Emergency and Logistics Section at the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency.

The earthquake was centered 27 kilometers northeast of the city of Mataram on the island of Lombok -- a popular tourist destination -- 15 km under the surface, the Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) said earlier.

A tsunami alert, issued earlier for the region, was lifted, the agency added.

Meanwhile, Praya International Airport is operating normally after a disruption in flights due to a power outage from the quake, airport officials said.

Last week, 16 people were killed when a magnitude 6.4 quake struck the same region, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,000 mountaineers.

*Cansu Dikme contributed the story from Ankara