The Jakarta Post, 3/29/2005 8:35:05 AM
Up to 2,000 dead in Indonesia earthquake: Vice president
BANDA ACEH, Aceh: As many as 2,000 people may have been killed when a
powerful earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Nias, Indonesian Vice President
Yusuf Kalla said on Tuesday.
"Maybe there are one to two thousand people who have died according to the early
reports from there," Kalla told BBC radio in an interview, adding that a more precise
evaluation would be likely in the coming hours after a further report by the district chief
and police.
However, officials on the Indonesian island of Nias off the west coast of Sumatra ealier
said at least 300 people were believed to have been killed after many buildings were
brought crashing to the ground by the quake.
"It cannot be below that figure," said Agus Mendrofa, a district official on the island of
500,000 people which is about 125 kilometres west of of Sumatra and popular with
surfers.
He said at least 80 percent of all multi-storey buildings in the main city of Gunung
Sitoli had been destroyed, trapping thousands of people under the rubble.
He said many victims had not received medical treatment as the main hospital had
been hit by a blackout and many doctors and nurses had fled with other residents to
nearby hills, fearing a tsunami.
The huge earthquake off northwest Indonesia triggered tsunami alerts across the
Indian Ocean which caused widespread panic.
The under-sea quake measuring up to 8.7 on the Richter Scale came just three
months after an even bigger temblor in the same region sent giant waves crashing into
11 nations, killing over 270,000 people. (**)
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