ABC AUSTRALIA, 29/03/2005, 16:50:47
At least 300 confirmed dead in Indonesian quake
For the second time in three months, Indonesia has been rocked by a massive
earthquake.
Registering 8.7 on the Richter scale, the undersea quake initially triggered alerts of
another tsunami throughout the region.
But although that did not eventuate, the quake does appear to have caused a heavy
loss of life on the Indonesian island of Nias, near Sumatra.
The National Coordinating Disaster Relief Agency says at least 300 people are
confirmed dead.
Earlier, Indonesia's Vice President, Yusuf Kalla, said as many as 2,000 people could
have been killed by buildings collapsing on the island of Nias.
Local officials say at least 80 per cent of all multi-storey buildings in the island's main
city, Gunung Sitoli, have been destroyed, and that thousands of people have been
trapped under the rubble.
Aceh town suffers heavy damage
As Indonesia's government issued a tsunami alert, thousands of people fled their
homes across Sumatra, especially in Aceh province.
An entire town on the south western coast of Aceh has reportedly been levelled by the
quake.
The Antara news agency says more than 10,000 people in Aceh Singkil have fled their
homes.
It is not know if there are any casualties, but the town centre is believed to be
devastated, with private and public buildings either cracked or collapsed, electricity
poles and supply down and large cracks appearing on roads.
Ache province is still recovering from the December 26 earthquake and tsunami which
left 220,00 killed or missing.
©2005 ABC
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