The death toll from a devastating earthquake that struck Indonesia’s Lombok island has risen to 131, the disaster management agency says.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho says there are reports of other deaths but they still need to be verified.

He says the death toll is expected to increase.

Nearly 2500 people have been hospitalised with serious injuries and more than 156,000 people are displaced due to the extensive damage to homes.

Indonesian police look for victims at a collapsed house in Tanjung. Photo: Getty

The magnitude 7.0 quake on Sunday came a week after another quake on Lombok killed 16 people.

Most of the victims died in northern Lombok, where numerous houses and mosques collapsed. Emergency services are working to locate survivors as well as recover the bodies.

Volunteers and rescue personnel were erecting more temporary shelters for the tens of thousands of people left homeless. Water, food and medical supplies were being distributed from trucks.

The military said five planes carrying food, medicine, blankets, field tents and water tankers left Jakarta for the island on Wednesday.

Young earthquake survivors study at an evacuation centre in Lapangan Tanjung. Many are sleeping in makeshift shelters and lack food, medicine and clean water. Photo: AFP/Getty

On the road to the north of the island, locals were asking for money to help the victims amid collapsed buildings.

Dozens of injured people are being treated in tents temporarily set up near Tanjung hospital in the northwest of the island, as the centre was damaged by the quake and was evacuated.

Aid has reached many of the survivors, but there is still a lack of food, water and tents in areas that are difficult to access.

Lombok is an island known for its volcanic Mount Rinjani and comprises about 4700 square kilometres in land area. It is located east of Bali, where the earthquake killed two people.

About 250 aftershocks were recorded on the small islands surrounding Lombok – Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan – where some 7000 tourists were evacuated after the quake.

Indonesia is situated within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area known for heavy seismic and volcanic activity, which cause about 7000 tremors a year, mostly of moderate intensity.