BENGKULU (Indonesia), Sept 13: Huge aftershocks rumbled across Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Thursday, prompting repeated tsunami alerts, but officials said damage from a massive quake that killed 10 people was not as bad as first feared.As a 6.8 aftershock late Thursday prompted officials to raise and then cancel Sumatra’s fifth tsunami warning, authorities sought to ferry aid supplies to villages and outlying areas where scores of homes were flattened.

But it appeared the country had been spared the scale of devastation first feared when the 8.4-magnitude quake struck at dusk Wednesday -- welcome news for terrified residents who had spent the night outdoors.

Officials, however, warned the death toll could still rise. In many places, telephone lines and electricity were down, and emergency teams were racing to remote areas to assess the extent of casualties and damage.

The quake was strong enough to shake buildings in Thailand and Malaysia and triggered a tsunami alert as far away as east Africa, raising memories of the December 2004 catastrophe that killed 220,000 people.

It struck on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan and was followed Thursday by dozens of aftershocks and several tsunami warnings.

Meanwhile another quake hit the northern tip of Sulawesi on Thursday with a magnitude of 6.2, according to the US Geological Survey, some 2,700 kilometres (1,690 miles) to the east of the Sumatra epicentre.

It prompted another tsunami warning, but there were no initial reports of damage and the alert was later lifted.—AFP