Indonesia quake: Death toll mounts to 30

The death toll from an earthquake that hit Indonesia’s Aceh province earlier this week has reached 30,and police and soldiers are searching the debris for another 12 people believed missing,officials said today. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said the main focus of recovery efforts today was to search for more victims,assist the injured and provide supplies for those in need. He said 275 people were injured and more than 4,300 houses and buildings were damaged in Tuesday’s magnitude-6.1 quake.

Earthquakes frequently rattle Indonesia,which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire,an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Ocean. In 2004,a magnitude-9.1 earthquake off Aceh triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in 14 countries.