Over 3,000 people have been killed in the powerful earthquake that shook Yogyakarta province, Indonesia, early Saturday morning, an official from the Social Affairs Ministry said in Jakarta on Saturday.

 

The official said that the quaked killed at least over 3,002 people, seriously injured more than 2,500 others, and destroyed more than 3,800 houses.

 

Most of the fatalities were in Bantul district with over 2,500 people. The death toll in Klaten district, Central Java, passed 600 people and the historical city of Yogyakarta over 100.

 

The quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked Yogyakarta city, Klaten, Bantul and Gunung Kidul, in Yogyakarta Province at around 5.55 a.m. local time (2255 GMT Friday) when many people were sleeping.

 

The quake`s epicenter was located at 8.26 degrees southern latitude and 110.23 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 33 kilometers below the sea level, about 37.6 kilometers of south of Yogyakarta.

 

It has destroyed residential houses and a number of infrastructures including office buildings, a sport stadium and even caused the Adi Sucipto airport in Yogyakarta to suspend a number of flights.

 

Telecommunication network and electricity supply in Yogyakarta were cut off due to the earthquake.

 

It was the worst quake in Indonesia since Dec. 26, 2004, when a powerful earthquake under the sea off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in the country's Aceh province and other countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.

 

Volcanological Research and Technological Development Agency (BPPTK) chief Purbo said Saturday's earthquake was triggered by the friction of earth layer and not by the coughing Mount Merapi.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2006)