Officials say at least 22 people were killed and more than 200 injured by the quake, which struck the western tip of Sumatra island on Tuesday.

 

One report said six children were killed and 14 trapped under debris⁴ when a mosque⁵ collapsed⁶ in Central Aceh.

 

Indonesia is located on one of the most seismically⁷ active regions on earth.

 

"So far 22 people died, 210 people were injured, and thousands of buildings and homes were damaged in the quake," disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

 

"Our search and rescue teams are struggling to evacuate⁸ an estimated 14 children still trapped under the rubble⁹ [of the mosque]," Subhan Sahara, a disaster management official in Central Aceh, told AFP news agency.

 

 

Soldiers and police have been deployed¹⁰ in rescue operations, but have struggled to access some areas where roads were blocked by landslides, officials said.

 

The Indonesian air force has deployed a helicopter and a plane as part of the rescue efforts.

 

Officials say that the quake was felt for around 15 seconds, from Banda Aceh, the regional capital, to Bener Meriah, one of the worst-hit areas.

 

In Bener Meriah, around 300 people slept outdoors on Tuesday night as the area was hit by strong aftershocks and people were afraid to return to their homes, a local official told AFP.

 

"We have a power outage（断电） now and communications are unreliable," he added. 

 

In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake off Indonesia triggered a tsunami¹¹ that killed some 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean. 

 

Indonesia is prone¹² to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

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