A powerful and shallow earthquake that hit Aceh province of Indonesia on Tuesday killed at least 22 people, injured more than 200 and damaged thousands of houses, said officials.
The 6.1 magnitude quake hit the island at a depth of just 10 kms in the mountainous Bener Meriah district in the heart of Aceh province, said the U.S. Geological Survey.
Most of the casualties were found in the district of Bener Meriah and about 1500 houses, mosques and government office buildings were damaged, according to the disaster management agency.
It is believed that the quake toll might rise as rescue operations are still on.
"We are now concentrating on searching for people who may be trapped under the rubble," said deputy district chief, Rusli M. Saleh, according to the Associated Press.
All the injured in the quake were immediately shifted to nearby hospitals.
Most of injured people were found in Aceh Tengah district and all of them were immediately shifted to nearby hospitals.
The government has sent one plane and one helicopter to help with the emergency relief work, according to the spokesman of national disaster management agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
The island nation is prone to earthquakes as it is located on the pacific ring of fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Ocean, according to the Geologists.
A 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck the province in 2004, triggering a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in 14 countries
