At least three people were killed and 25 others seriously wounded in Siemelu island of Indonesia's Aceh province after a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 rocked the province in the northern tip of Sumatra Island on Wednesday, the health ministry said.
Head of the crisis center of the ministry Rustam Pakaya said that the victims were struck by the collapsed buildings.
"Three people were killed and 25 others suffered from serious injuries," he told Xinhua.
The number of death toll was expected to rise, as the searching has been underway, and many buildings collapsed, said Pakaya.
"Telecommunication cut has hampered the coordination on the rescue effort," he said.
Hundred of buildings collapsed in the powerful earthquake, which struck at 15:08 Jakarta time (0808 GMT) with epicenter 42 kilometers northwest Sinabang town in Siemelu Island and 30 kilometers beneath the earth.
Indonesia's meteorological and geophysics agency put the magnitude of the quake at 6.6, while the Hong Kong Observatory said the quake was measured at 7.6 on the Richter scale.
A military officer in charge at the Aceh provincial military command Meiky Pondian to confirmed the damage in an interview with Xinhua over telephone, saying "The district office, health clinic, tax office buildings and residence houses suffered from damage, but no casualties.".
The powerful quake triggered the issue of tsunami alerts by Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center for the resort island of Phuket and five nearby provinces and by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center for Indonesia. Both centers later lifted the tsunami alerts.
Pakaya, said hundred of people in Siemelu island, the closest area to the epicenter, fled homes and ran away to higher areas due to the issue of tsunami alert.
While in the second hardest hit of Meulaboh town and other areas there were no damage, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
The intensity of the quake was felt at 6 MMI (modified mercalli intensity) at Meulaboh town, 3 to 4 MMI in Banda Aceh, 3 MMI in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra and Sibolga town of the province, an official of the agency, Agung Mulyo Utomo, told Xinhua.
The intensity in Siemelu island could not be known as the public communication is cut off.
The tremor was also felt in the North Sumatra Capital of Medan which is located about 290 km from the epicenter.
TV footage showed people stormed out in panic from multi-story buildings in the country's third largest city.
The quake also shook Nias Island and the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island, where over 130,000 people were killed in the 2004 earthquake-triggered tsunami.
"Today's earthquake was not tsunami potential as it was centered inland," a staff with the agency told Xinhua.
In 2004, over 170,000 people were dead in Aceh province after a tsunami triggered by a powerful quake devastated coastal areas of the province and others countries in southeast Asia.
Indonesia is laid at a vulnerable zone so called "the Pacific Ring of Fire" where two continental plates meet, causing frequent volcanic movements.
Source: Xinhua
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