Jakarta - At least 25 people were killed
and dozens were missing after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit the
northern Indonesian province of Aceh on Wednesday, officials
said, collapsing buildings and sending panicked residents
fleeing into the streets.
Indonesian search and rescue teams used earth movers to
clear rubble and reach what authorities believed were dozens of
victims trapped underneath.
"Search and rescue teams have found 25 dead victims and 26
seriously injured," Sutopo Nugroho of the national disaster
management agency said in a statement.
Khairul Nova, an official at the Aceh search and rescue
agency, said: "Dozens are missing but we don't have accurate
data on the total yet."
Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, was devastated
by a massive earthquake and tsunami centred on its western coast
near the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, on December 26, 2004.
Wednesday's quake hit the east coast of the province, about
170km from Banda Aceh.
Images on television and social media showed victims being
rushed to hospital, flattened buildings and fallen electricity
poles, and people gathering outside at street corners.
"The earthquake was felt strongly and many people panicked
and rushed outdoors as houses collapsed," Nugroho said.
Heavy machinery was being used in the search for victims,
said Risky Hidayat, another search and rescue official in Aceh.
A volunteer for the Indonesian Red Crescent in Pidie Jaya
regency in Aceh described scenes of heavy damage and said many
people had been injured.
"There isn't enough medical staff around," the Red
Crescent's Muklis, who like many Indonesians uses one name, told
TVOne.
The United States Geological Survey said the quake struck
just after 5am at a depth of 17km on Aceh's northeastern coast. No tsunami warning
was issued.
At least five aftershocks were felt in the hours after the
initial quake, the disaster management agency said.
The region suffered massive destruction in 2004 when a 9.2
magnitude quake triggered a tsunami that wiped out entire
communities in Indonesia and other countries around the Indian
Ocean.
Indonesia was the hardest hit, with more than 120,000 people
killed in Aceh alone.