The death toll from Indonesia's massive earthquake rose to 23 on Sunday as more villagers started returning home, an official said, according to AP. Five more bodies were recovered and one injured victim died in hospital following Wednesday's 8.4-magnitude quake that struck off the coast of western Sumatra and rattled four Southeast Asian countries, said Rustam Pakaya, chief of Indonesia's Health Crisis Center. He said rescuers were still searching for victims feared trapped under rubble in some remote areas. More than 60 strong aftershocks have followed the major temblor _ including a magnitude 7.8 and a 7.1. A 3-meter-high (10-foot-high) tsunami was triggered by the quake, but no one died from the wave. Fifteen deaths have been reported in the city of Bengkulu, seven from West Sumatra province and one in Jambi province, Pakaya said. At least 88 people have been injured. Nearly 2,000 houses were destroyed, while another 10,000 were badly damaged, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Center. Many people in affected areas have been camping out on high ground away from the ocean, fearing another violent quake. But with electricity back on in most places and no major aftershocks felt, some were beginning to reopen shops and clean up debris around their homes. About 400 refugees still remain at the governor's office in Bengkulu and in the hills of the remote Mentawai islands. Indonesia, comprising the world's largest archipelago with a population of 235 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the «Ring of Fire,» an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. Experts have warned the string of large earthquakes could indicate a huge seismic event will follow soon. They fear it could rival the 9.0-magnitude temblor that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami and killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen Indian Ocean nations.
