March 29 (Bloomberg) -- The magnitude 8.7 earthquake that struck near the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, last night killed at least 420 people, officials said, and spread panic in communities struggling to recover from the Dec. 26 tsunami.

Yesterday's quake, among the 10 most powerful since 1900, had its epicenter near that of the December temblor, whose waves killed more than 270,000 people. Governments from Indonesia to Sri Lanka issued tsunami warnings after the quake struck at 11:09 p.m. last night, and withdrew them today.

More than 320 people were killed on the island of Nias, Hendro Sujayanto, an official of the National Coordinating Body for Disaster Relief in Medan, said by telephone. Another 100 died in Simeuleu, northwest of Nias, MetroTV said, citing an official in Aceh province. The death toll may reach 2,000, presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said by telephone.

Because communications are down and transport links destroyed in the worst-affected islands of Nias and Simeuleu, off the west coast of Sumatra, casualty assessments so far have only been ``preliminary,'' said disaster relief official Wisnu Widjaja in a telephone interview from Jakarta. Two assessment teams have been sent to the island by helicopter, he said.

There were 15 aftershocks of magnitude 4.9 or greater in the area through to 12:16 p.m. local time, the USGS said. The most powerful was 6.1 magnitude at 1:30 a.m., it said.

Damaged Airport

The airport in the city of Gunungsitoli on Nias was damaged, with the tower collapsing and the runway cracked, Information Minister Sofyan Djalil said after an emergency relief meeting today in Jakarta. Nias has a population of about 700,000.

A 3-meter wave struck the island of Simeuleu north of Nias causing damage, Agence France-Presse reported, citing local military officials. Earlier, an Indonesian Red Cross official said the body wasn't able to contact staff on Simeuleu island.

U.K.-based relief agency Oxfam said an assessment team it sent to Nias found ``major infrastructure damage.'' About 20,000 people in the town of Gunungsitoli are without water, the agency said in an e-mailed statement, adding that 34 bodies have been taken to one mosque there.

``The failure of the water system and the collapse of the roads here are major issues,'' said team member Alessandra Villas- Boas in the statement. ``Bodies are being pulled from the rubble as I speak.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Soraya Permatasari in Jakarta soraya@bloomberg.net. Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 29, 2005 07:48 EST