Tuesday, March 29 2005 08:07 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Banda Aceh: Up to 2,000 people have been killed when buildings collapsed after a massive earthquake off the coast of Indonesia that sparked panic around the Indian Ocean, the country's vice president said today (Mar 29, 2005).

The quake, which occurred three months after the December 26 tsunami disaster that left 2,20,000 Indonesians dead and missing, caused extensive damage on the Island of Nias, a popular surfing destination west of Sumatra.

"Maybe there are one to two thousand people who have died according to the early reports from there," Vice President Yusuf Kalla said in an interview with the BBC, adding that a more precise evaluation would be likely in the coming hours after a further report by the district chief and police.

But according to Agus Mendrofa, a deputy district chief on Nias, there was extensive damage on the Island with at least 80 per cent of all multi-storey buildings in the main city of Gunung Sitoli destroyed.

Indonesian officials issued a tsunami warning after yesterday's (Mar 28, 2005) undersea quake, which struck some 245 kilometres southwest of the city of Medan. They gave the all clear three hours later.

Mendrofa said that many people injured in the quake had been unable to receive medical treatment as a power blackout had hit the main hospital while doctors and nurses had joined others fleeing for higher ground.

Herman Laia, the head of the environment office in the south of Nias, said almost 95 per cent of buildings there were destroyed.

An official on the Island of Nias interviewed by Jakarta's Metro TV station earlier said the exact death toll was not known, although estimates were of about 300 dead.

Indonesian officials said initial fears that the 8.7-magnitude quake would be followed within a few minutes by huge waves crashing ashore - as occurred in Sumatra just over three months ago - appeared to be unfounded.

They later withdraw a warning after it became clear that the quake did not cause a tsunami.