Indonesia: At least 54 dead in 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Aceh province

At least 54 people lost their lives, while several are feared trapped under the rubble after an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale struck Indonesia's Aceh province located in Sumatra Island on Wednesday, the country's army chief said.

The earthquake was shallow and struck about 10 kms north of the town of Reuleuet at 5:03 a.m. (4.00 am IST) at a depth of 17.2 kms, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. However, there was no tsunami alert. Several were preparing for their morning prayers in the Muslim-dominated region when the quake struck. The USGS has also issued a yellow alert for fatalities and damage.

According to seismologists, the earthquake was felt across the province of Aceh. There were at least five aftershocks following the quake, Eridawati, local head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency told AFP.

"Eighteen have died so far, based on data from the hospital. Some of the fatalities are children," deputy district chief of Pidie Jaya Said Mulyadi told AFP.  Pidie Jaya, located 18 kms (11 miles) southwest of the epicenter, has been hit the hardest by the earthquake.

"Several shophouses and homes have caved in Pidie Jaya district and the owners are still trapped there. We are now deploying heavy machines to help out and hopefully we can save the ones who are trapped," Local Disaster Management Office chief Apriadi Achmad told the agency, adding that an elderly man had possibly died of a heart attack.

Sulaiman, a local disaster official, told local MetroTV that a woman and her two children were killed in Pidie Jaya, the Associated Press reported. Several mosques, houses and shops have also collapsed, while residents of the town of Lhokseumawe located nearby ran out of their homes in panic when the quake struck.

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago and is prone to earthquakes as it is located on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" -- an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. A massive earthquake, which had struck Sumatra Island in December 2004, triggered a tsunami that claimed the lives of around 230,000 people in over a dozen countries.