BLANG MANCUNG, Indonesia - Rescuers battled through landslides and
blocked roads Wednesday to reach survivors from an earthquake in
Indonesia's Aceh province that killed at least 24 people, including
several children who died when a mosque collapsed.
Almost 250 people were also injured in Aceh's remote, mountainous
interior when the strong 6.1-magnitude quake struck the north of Sumatra
island on Tuesday, flattening buildings and triggering landslides.
The quake, which struck at a shallow depth of just 10 kilometres (six
miles), has sparked panic in the natural disaster-prone region where
more than 170,000 people were killed by the quake-triggered tsunami of
2004.
In Blang Mancung village, Central Aceh district, there was widespread
devastation with many homes reduced to rubble and at least six children
killed when a mosque collapsed during a Quran reading session.
- Rescuers dug all night with an excavator through the rubble of the mosque looking for more children but a local disaster agency official said late Wednesday he did not believe that anyone else was buried.
- As 16 aftershocks rocked Aceh late Tuesday, around 700 people from the village and its surrounding areas took refuge in makeshift shelters, the national disaster agency said.
Source: AsiaOne...More...
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