The 7.2-magnitude earthquake which hit Sinabang, Aceh, in Sumatra early today injured 21 people on Simeulue Island, four of them badly.

The injuries were caused by falling pillars of buildings and in the rush of people to clear out of buildings, according to a report by Antara News Agency from Simeulue.

The injured were given treatment by medical teams at camps turned into temporary treatment centres in Desa Gunung Putih, Teluk Dalam, Simeulue.

Aceh deputy governor Muhammad Nazar visited those under treatment at the centre.

The authorities decided to attend to the injured at the temporary centre in the open as a precaution against aftershocks in the island region about 176km from the Aceh coast.

Muhammad Nazar said local authorities had reported that about 30 electricity poles had toppled over onto roads and cut power supply to Simeulue, and power was expected to be restored in several days.

He also said that the Aceh government was registering earthquake victims to facilitate distribution of aid.

The earthquake, which occurred at 5.15am Wednesday morning was the biggest after the 8.9-magnitude quake, along with a tsunami, which hit Aceh on Dec 26, 2004 and left more than 200,000 dead. - Bernama