Earthquake devastates Padang, the capital of Indonesia’s West Sumatra province

The first 7.6-magnitude quake struck off Indonesia’s Sumatra island at 05:16 p.m. local time (10:16 GMT) on Wednesday. Several aftershocks struck the island the next day. In the picture: soldiers and volunteers search for people under the debris of a building destroyed by the quake.

The quake destroyed 75% of buildings in West Sumatra's regional centre Padang, while nearby towns were also badly affected.

“There may be more than 1,000 dead... because so many buildings and houses have been damaged,” Health Ministry crisis centre chief Rustam Pakaya said.

According to the latest reports, the death toll on Sumatra has reached 467.

The first quake struck off Sumatra at 05:16 local time (10:16 GMT) on Wednesday, some 57 km (35.42 mi) from Pariaman.

The epicenter was about 71 km (44.12 mi) underground.

Half an hour later, a new 6.2-magnitude quake was registered on Simatra.

The epicenter of the quake that struck at 05:38 local time (10:38 GMT) was about 22 km (13.67 mi) south-west of Pariaman, some 110 km (68.35 mi) underground.

The next day, several other quakes were registered on Sumatra, with the epicenter some dozens kilometers to the south-east of the city of Sungaipenuh (Jambi province).

Part of the Pacific's Ring of Fire, Indonesia is in the world's most seismically active region, registering 6,000-7,000 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 or above annually.

The most active tectonic plates are located in this area, with one of them moving at 0.07 m (0.23 ft) annually.