Tremors ripple across Sumatra as new earthquake hits Turkey

Rescuers on the Indonesian island of Sumatra struggled in the face of bad weather, power cuts and landslides yesterday to reach victims of a massive earthquake that has killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.

Rescuers on the Indonesian island of Sumatra struggled in the face of bad weather, power cuts and landslides yesterday to reach victims of a massive earthquake that has killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.

Authorities predicted that the number of casualties would rise sharply, given the difficulty faced by rescue teams in getting to remote villages in Bengkulu province on Sumatra's west coast, the region worst affected by Sunday night's quake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale.

Frequent aftershocks rippled across Bengkulu province yesterday, sending frightened people out of shelters and into the streets.

In Bengkulu town, jittery residents prepared for another night in makeshift shelters, with tattered tents and plastic sheeting held up by bamboo poles lining the town's debris-strewn streets. Families huddled around paraffin lamps, although many expressed gratitude that one of the world's biggest earthquakes in a decade had not completely levelled the town of 260,000 people.

In northern Turkey, a strong earthquake early yesterday killed at least two people and injured nearly 100, as the country still struggles to return to normal after the terrible effects of last year's quakes, which killed 18,000.

The ground began to shake at 5.45am. Panicking, people tried to flee their homes. Several people were injured throwing themselves from upper-storey windows or balconies. The shaking went on for 30 seconds. "We shook so hard, I threw myself out of the window," said Ramazan Aydin. "I panicked so much I didn't know what I was doing." Mr Aydin broke his back.

In the capital, Ankara, 60 miles south of the epicentre of the quake, people ran into the streets and spent the rest of the night in the open, too scared to go inside - though there was no damage reported in the city. Nearer the epicentre, which was in the small town of Cerkes, dozens of buildings collapsed. But the quake struck in a rural area, where buildings were made of mud and wood, and most people were able to escape from the wreckage. In last year's earthquakes, thousands were trapped under poorly constructed concrete buildings which had collapsed.

Yesterday's tremor measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, and was followed by nine aftershocks, the strongest with a magnitude of 4.5. Last August's earthquake measured 7.4.