More than 1 000 feared killed
2005-03-29 16:45
Jakarta - More than 1 000 people are estimated to have died in Indonesia's Nias island following a massive earthquake there, the Indonesian Red Cross said on Tuesday.
"About a third of Gunung Sitoli, the main town in Nias, is reported to have undergone the heaviest damage. It is estimated that more than 1 000 people in Nias island died," the Red Cross said.
At least 430 people have been confirmed dead on Nias and the island of Simeulue, just to the northwest, following the magnitude 8.7 earthquake that struck late on Monday.
Budi Atmaji Adiputro, chief of staff at the National Coordinating Disaster Relief Agency, said 330 people had been found dead on Nias and more bodies were expected to be found under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
"I expect the number to increase because to collect bodies we have to sift through the rubble," he told AFP.
The head of the health office in neighbouring Sumatra's Aceh province, Mulya Hasjmy, said a disaster task force in Simeulue had accounted for 100 dead.