More than 78,000 residents of Simeuleu Island in Indonesia still live at refugee camps more than two weeks after the March 28 earthquake destroyed their homes, a government official said Thursday.
Simeuleu Deputy Regent Ibnu Aban Ulma said most of the refugees have their homes destroyed by the 8.2-magnitude quake.
"Only 25 percent of them take refuge because of tsunami fear," he was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.
More than 9,000 children and babies are among the refugees, he said.
The quake killed 33 people in Simeuleu and more than 620 others in nearby Nias Island. It came only three months after a powerful earthquake off Sumatra island triggered a tsunami and left more than 220,000 people in Aceh and North Sumatra dead or missing.
(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2005)
