The death toll "probably will increase," he says, despite the agency only counting one person as officially missing. "A joint rescue team is still continuing to search for the victims."
***
07/12/2016
12:04
A strong undersea earthquake rocked Indonesia`s Aceh province early on Wednesday, killing at least 54 people and sparking a frantic rescue effort in the rubble of dozens of collapsed and damaged buildings.
The death toll of the earthquake in Indonesia’s North Sumatra has increased to 92, media reported Tuesday.
The military chief of the Aceh province confirmed the death toll to the DPA news agency.
***
11:39
Maj Gen Tatang Sulaiman, chief of the army in Aceh, said 52 people have died in Pidie Jaya, the district closest to the epicentre. Another two people died in neighboring Bireuen district. The national disaster mitigation agency said 78 people have suffered serious injuries.
The rescue effort involving villagers, soldiers and police is concentrated on Meureudu, a severely affected town in Pidie Jaya district. Excavators were trying to remove debris from shop houses and other buildings where people were believed buried.
***
09:20
Some 20 people were killed in Pidie Jaya Regency in Indonesia`s westernmost province of Aceh after magnitude 6.4 earthquake, Sputnik reported.
At least 25 people have been killed after a strong earthquake struck Indonesia`s northern Aceh province, the Indonesian disaster management agency said on Wednesday.
"Search and rescue teams have found 25 dead victims and 26 seriously injured," the agency said in a statement.
***
09 : 03
The quake striked 11 miles off the town of Sigli in North Sumatra and was at the depth of 1.2 miles, Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) agency said, adding damage could have been caused.
The quake measuring up to magnitude 6.4 struck North Sumatra in western Indonesia earlier in the day. The local disaster mitigation office (BPBD) said several buildings had been destroyed.
It was earlier reported that four people were killed as a result of earthquake.
"Dozens of people are under the rubble of collapsed buildings," Said Mulyadi, the deputy head of the district, said as quoted by the news portal Detik.com.
A rescue operation is underway. The BPBD head, Puteh Manaf said the quake razed several public buildings, as well as mosques and private homes, according to the Indonesian news agency Antara.
The earthquake was felt across the region and was followed by four aftershocks, although no tsunami wave is expected.
Indonesia is located in the so-called Ring of Fire quake zone where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
