Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Thousands of Indonesians rattled by a powerful quake and a series of aftershocks remained outdoors Tuesday, local officials said, as the health ministry revised the death toll down from three to one.
The 6.7-magnitude quake struck just after midnight local time Monday on Sumbawa island in the archipelago nation's east, collapsing or badly damaging hundreds of buildings.
The health ministry initially said three people were killed, but spokesman Rustam Pakaya revised the figure down to one, saying in a brief text message that the two other people believed dead had turned up alive.
He said 90 people had been injured.
Zaenal, a rescue worker in Sumbawa's Dompu district, said people in the worst affected areas there were "still staying in temporary shelters set up along roadsides or on soccer fields.
"There are about 1,000 families who stayed overnight and are still too afraid to return to their homes," he told AFP, adding that schools remained closed.
Zaenal added that the evacuees had received food aid from the local government, including instant noodles, rice, milk and baby food.
In Dompu's coastal Kilo area, many people sought shelter in the hills, fearful of potential tsunamis if more aftershocks hit, said the chief of Melaju village, Nurdin Muchtar.
"There are about 786 families still in the hills. They might still stay there tonight. If there are no more tremors today (Tuesday), they would return back home tomorrow," he said.
"We still felt very small tremors this morning," he said, adding that food aid was also being distributed to the evacuees.
Eight people seriously injured remained in hospital in Dompu town, where most of the injured had been admitted, said a doctor there, Suryani.
She said most of the town's residents remained sheltering under plastic sheets, fearing further quakes.
The government in Jakarta dispatched two officials on Monday to Sumbawa, located about 1,200 kilometres (746 miles) east of the capital between the islands of Lombok and Flores, though a minister said it appeared local governments could handle the aftermath alone.
The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates meet and cause frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered Asian tsunami in December 2004, which killed 168,000 people in westernmost Aceh province alone.
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