More than 2,000 people were killed and thousands more injured in a powerful earthquake in Indonesia's Yogyakarta Saturday Morning that flattened residential houses, office buildings and destroyed roads and bridges.

The quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked Yogyakarta city, Klaten, Bantul and Gunung Kidul, in Yogyakarta Province at around 5.55 a.m. local time (2255 GMT Friday) when many people were sleeping.

It has destroyed residential houses and a number of infrastructures including office buildings, a sport stadium and even caused the Adi Sucipto airport in Yogyakarta to suspend a number of flights.

Nine hours after the quake struck, the death toll has increased to 2,091, said the Indonesian official news agency Antara.

Telecommunication network and electricity supply in Yogyakarta were cut off due to the earthquake. All flights to and from Adi Sucipto Airport in Yogyakarta were suspended because of damages to the airport's facilities, Antara reported from Yogyajakarta.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the army to help evacuate victims, as panicked residents ran into the smoldering streets, many clutching young children.

The president originally planned to visit quake-hit Yogyakarta on Sunday, but because of the rapid developments, he changed his mind and left Jakarta for the disaster region Saturday afternoon.

The president also has instructed Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari and Social Affairs Minister Bakhtiar Chamsyah to go to Yogyakarta immediately to deliver relief aid and coordinate help for victims of earthquake.

Meanwhile, the Health Minister said she would soon send three field hospitals to the quake-hit areas in Yogyakarta and Central Java and would also send doctors and medical team grouped in Disaster Alert Brigade at the nearby areas to give medical assistance to the victims in Yogyakarta and its surrounding areas.

Presidential spokesman Andi Malarangeng said the main problems hampering the sending of humanitarian assistance and the coordination of relief efforts were telecommunication lines and transportation links which had been disrupted by the earthquake, Antara reported.

The presidential spokesman warned that the preparation from government circle and all parties to help alleviate the misery of the quake victims was greatly needful.

"Therefore, the mechanism of coordination is very important," Malarangeng said.

It was the worst quake in Indonesia since Dec. 26, 2004, when a powerful earthquake under the sea off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in the country's Aceh province and other countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.

Volcanological Research and Technological Development Agency ( BPPTK) chief Purbo said Saturday's earthquake was triggered by the friction of earth layer and not by the coughing Mount Merapi.

However, the quake was feared to trigger the volcanic activity of Merapi because when the earthquake occurred, Merapi spewed massive clouds of hot gas into the air.

Source: Xinhua