RESCUERS raced to pull survivors from collapsed buildings and deliver urgently needed food and water yesterday as strong aftershocks rattled earthquake-devastated islands in northern Indonesia.

SURVIVORS combed the rubble of buildings for loved ones on Indonesia's earthquake-devastated Nias island yesterday as reports emerged of hundreds of additional deaths on a nearby island group.

Indonesia’s vice president has predicted that as many as 2,000 people may have died in yesterday's earthquake.

A powerful 8.7-magnitude earthquake hammered Indonesia’s west coast, collapsing homes and burying sleeping residents inside and sparking panic across Indian Ocean countries still traumatised by the tsunami disaster three months ago. Death toll estimates varied widely, from about 200 to 10 times that number.

A major earthquake struck late today off the west coast of Indonesia, and police said hundreds of people may have been killed in collapsed buildings.