At least seven people were killed and hundreds of houses damaged when a 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra early yesterday.
Rescuers were trying to reach 20 villages cut off by landslides triggered by the quake as there had been no contact with residents, police said.
The quake, which hit at 4:39am, was centred 150km southeast of Sibolga at a relatively shallow depth of 17.7km, geologists said.
Police in Panyabungan bordering South and West Sumatra said a family of four was killed after their home collapsed in Tamiyang village about 65km away.
The quake also damaged a large number of houses while key roads were blocked by landslides triggered by the quake, local police chief Rudi Sumarardiyanto told reporters.
"I'm unable to go to Tamiyang to get first-hand information on the situation. Local residents have come out to help clear the road and we have deployed two tractors," he said.
Some 20 villages out of 23 in the worst-hit district of Muara Sipongi were cut off, district police chief Pulungan told reporters.
The fate of the villages' residents was unknown and officials had not been able to make contact with them, Pulungan said.
Pulungan said 250 homes were damaged and 16 people suffered minor injuries in the three villages which were accessible.
Electricity supplies had been cut and landslides and rain were hampering rescue operations by some 100 police and soldiers.
"We have set up temporary shelters for those who have lost their homes and are providing them food," he said.
Three aftershocks sent residents rushing out of their homes in the area, where memories of the 2004 tsunami which devastated Aceh further north are still fresh, Sumarardiyanto said.
The earthquake was also felt 540km away in Singapore, the city-state's environment agency said.
Singapore local radio reported receiving calls from city residents who said their apartments had been shaken by the tremor.
The quake followed just half an hour after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit the north of Sumatra.
The first quake struck at 4:10am with its epicenter under the Indian Ocean south-southwest of Banda Aceh.
"These are moderate earthquakes," said Budiwaluyo, head of the earthquake information unit with the meteorology headquarters.
He said no tsunami warning was issued for the first quake as it was below 6.3-magnitude.
The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates meet, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered Asian tsunami in December 2004, which killed some 168,000 people in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.
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