A strong aftershock on Saturday rattled Indonesia's provincial capital of Banda Aceh, a city still traumatized by the December 26 earthquake-triggered tsunami, officials said. At about 9:55 a.m. (0255 GMT), aftershocks measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale rocked the capital of Aceh, the province hit hardest by the disaster that left more than 230,000 people dead and missing in Indonesia. No casualties or damage were reported from the new quake, which had an epicentre in the Indian Ocean at around the island of Weh, just off the northwestern coast of Banda Aceh. Experts have said aftershocks would continue to rock the area over the next few weeks, but would not be dangerous. Meanwhile, the number of bodies found and buried rose to 103,642 with 127,749 others still listed as missing in Indonesia from the earthquake-triggered tsunami, bringing the total of more than 231,000 people dead or missing, according to the tsunami crisis centre. Relief workers said that due to a lack of additional heavy equipment, efforts to collect the missing persons would take another month as the most of the dead were buried under rubble of collapsed buildings. Most evacuation workers were only provided with traditional tools such as hoes and shovels as well as body bags, relief teams said in a statement. "Everyday, the humanitarian workers collected and removed between 300-to-400 bodies, mostly children and women," said Muhammad Ma'sumi, who lead dozens of relief workers from the Islamic Defender Front (FPI), an Indonesian hardline Moslem group.
