Indonesia Earthquake Death Toll Exceeds 100

Plunged into darkness and shaken by relentless aftershocks, tens of thousands of Indonesians spent Monday night outdoors, afraid to return to their shattered homes after a powerful earthquake rocked the island of Sumatra.

Officials today said at least 103 people were killed by the quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., said was a magnitude 7.9. The Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysical Service put it at 7.3.

Police said they fear that the toll could rise as communications, which were cut across six provinces, are slowly restored and blocked roads cleared.

Earthquakes are common in Indonesia. Even so, Sunday night’s tremor was one of the most powerful recorded here in several years.

“My wife and I and our two kids ran for our lives, and now we’re too scared to go back into our home,” said Hazairin, a resident in the hard-hit city of Bengkulu. Like many Indonesians, he uses one name.

Damage was extensive and widespread. Hundreds of homes in Bengkulu, with a population of about 250,000, were damaged or destroyed, police and witnesses said. Major buildings had cracked walls, and smaller structures collapsed.

More than 100 badly injured patients--some two or three to a bed--were being treated in the parking lot of the devastated Young General Hospital in Bengkulu. Twelve patients had died from quake-inflicted injuries.