Indonesia earthquake: 54 dead in Aceh province

Dozens of people are still missing after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake reduced buildings to rubble in Aceh province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Fifty-four bodies have been recovered, but officials expect the death toll to rise as rescue workers continue to make their way into collapsed buildings.

The Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency estimates that at least 78 people were seriously injured, while more than 200 homes and businesses in towns across the province had been severely damaged.

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The tremors began at around 5am local time today (Tuesday 10pm GMT) and were followed by five powerful aftershocks.

Worst affected was the coastal district of Pidie Jaya, the area nearest the epicentre, where 52 of the 54 confirmed fatalities were found.

"In Pidie Jaya regency alone, 125 houses and 14 mosques collapsed and several roads were riven apart," Reuters reports.

A state of emergency has been declared in Aceh, where police and soldiers are being helped by local volunteers in frantic attempts to clear the rubble and rescue any survivors. Patients are being treated in the corridors of overwhelmed hospitals and in makeshift first aid stations.

Indonesia is particularly susceptible to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a volatile arc of volcanoes and fault lines which stretches from the western coast of South America up and around to Japan and Indonesia.

Locals are still haunted by the memory of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, which was triggered by an earthquake and killed more than 100,000 people.

"We ran to a nearby hill because our house is near a beach," Fitri Abidin told Associated Press after today's quake. "We were afraid a tsunami can come at any time."

However, although the US Geological Survey says the epicentre was located beneath the ocean floor, a few miles off the northern coast of Sumatra, it has not triggered a tsunami.