Aftershocks rattle Indonesia's Sumatra island

Dec 19, 2006, 9:03 GMT

Jakarta - Aftershocks rattled the Indonesian island of Sumatra Tuesday as rescue and relief workers struggled to reach a remote area after an earthquake destroyed hundreds of homes and left at least four people dead, officials said.

More than 1,000 residents from 11 villages whose homes were damaged in Monday morning's quake were evacuated and sheltered on soccer fields or in local government offices and buildings, the officials said.

Eddy Sofyan, a spokesman for North Sumatra province, said a road connecting two villages in Muarasipongi, a sub-district area bordering the North and West Sumatra, remained impassable after quake-triggered landslides covered parts of the road.

Sofyan, who spoke from the quake-hit scene, explained that more heavy equipments was needed to clear tons of mud.

'We urgently need more heavy equipment to help rescue workers open the closed road, but the downpours have hampered their work,' Sofyan told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The quake, measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale, struck parts of North and West Sumatra provinces just before dawn on Monday, followed by a series of aftershocks.

'Residents were too afraid to return to their homes because aftershocks continue shaking,' Sofyan said, adding that rain also hampering workers from distributing relief aid to the victims.

The death toll remained at four, while six suffered serious injuries and 23 other people were treated for minor wounds, Sofyan said. He strongly denied media reports that seven people had been killed.

More than 800 homes were damaged by Monday's quake in Mandailing Natal district, about 1,400 kilometres northwest of Jakarta.