Death Toll in 6.5 Quake Climbs to 27, Indonesia Says

Reports of more casualties on remote islands in the north and northeast have brought the death toll from a powerful earthquake in Indonesia to 27 people, officials said Saturday.

The magnitude 6.5 quake that struck before noon Thursday damaged hundreds of homes and buildings along a wide stretch of eastern Sulawesi island and the offshore islands of Peleng and Banggai.

The increase in the death toll came after authorities reestablished communications Saturday with remote islands, military spokesman Sgt. La Sande said.

At least 148 people were injured in the temblor, and 42 of them were in serious condition, said the spokesman, who was based in Luwuk on Sulawesi’s eastern coast.

The quake triggered a small tsunami, which pummeled coastal villages on outlying islands. Local officials said Friday that they expected the overall death toll to increase further once those villages began reporting damage and casualties.

Throughout the archipelago, 237 government buildings and more than 13,000 houses were damaged, according to the official Antara news agency. The quake also wrecked 180 school buildings and more than 200 mosques and churches.

Local officials estimated that about 80% of the buildings on tiny Banggai island were damaged.

Four Indonesian navy warships were sent to the area to assist rescue efforts, Antara said.

Thursday’s quake rocked a region about 625 miles long, stretching from eastern Kalimantan on Borneo to northern Maluku.