Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 134 in Indonesia; 550 Hurt : Disaster: Destroyed roads, communications hinder aid efforts. The number of fatalities is expected to rise.

The death toll had risen to 134 by late Wednesday from a powerful earthquake that hit the island of Sumatra just after midnight, burying residents as they slept and destroying homes, mosques and roads.

The toll will probably rise because of difficulties in evacuating badly hurt victims, officials said.

About 550 people were seriously injured, government spokesman Hotman Apik said.

“Most of the victims were sound asleep,” Apik said. “Some of the victims died without knowing what hit them.”

The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.5, according to officials in Jakarta. The U.S. Geological Survey in Washington put the strength at 7.2.

The hardest-hit area was believed to be the province of Lampung in southeastern Sumatra, about 125 miles northwest of Jakarta.

Destruction from the quake and heavy rain made it difficult to contact Lampung. Roads were churned up and phone lines shredded by the force of the quake.

An electrical blackout plunged western Lampung into darkness soon after the tremor began.

Many homes, mosques, government offices and police stations were demolished, Apik said.

Within Lampung, the most devastation was believed to be in the district of Liwa. As of Wednesday evening, only 15 injured people had been evacuated by helicopters to Kotabumi, about 75 miles north of Liwa.

The only way to evacuate the victims was by helicopters because the main road linking Kotabumi and Liwa was badly damaged.

Meanwhile, unrelated floods forced at least 1,500 people to flee their villages on the island of Java. The floods caused by heavy rain destroyed at least 160 houses, officials said.

In China, an earthquake of 5.6 magnitude was recorded Wednesday in Qinghai province, the Hong Kong Observatory said.

No injuries were immediately reported.