THE 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Indonesia was the world’s fifth most powerful since 1900 and the strongest since a 9.2 quake slammed Alaska 40 years ago, US earthquake experts said.

France offered Algeria a loan of up to €50m to help its former colony rebuild after a devastating earthquake killed more than 2,200 people and flattened entire villages.

Preparation and good luck helped save Japan yesterday from the carnage seen after Algeria’s devastating earthquake last week, it was reported today.

RESCUE workers fought against time yesterday to try to find an 11-year-old girl believed to be alive in the rubble of a building as Algeria’s earthquake death toll passed 2,000, with nearly 9,000 hurt.

The death toll from a devastating earthquake in northern Algeria neared 2,200 today.

The death toll from a devastating earthquake in northern Algeria has risen to more than 2,000.

RESCUE workers scrabbled at mounds of rubble yesterday to find survivors of an earthquake in the Algerian capital and nearby towns that killed more than 1,000 people and injured more than 6,000.

Two hundred and thirty-five people have been killed and hundreds injured in severe floods in northern Algeria.

Gunmen opened fire inside a mosque in northern Algeria, killing 10 people and wounding nine others.