Police said teams of rescuers, including police and soldiers along with local people, had stepped up search efforts. Two navy ships were bringing emergency supplies. Rescue personnel were being deployed from other parts of Indonesia, and some foreign countries had offered assistance. The greatest fears center around tiny Enggano island, about 125 miles southeast of Bengkulu town and closest to the quake's epicenter. Initial reports said as many as 90 percent of its buildings were flattened.
Earthquakes are common in Indonesia.
Even so, Sunday night's tremor was one of the most powerful recorded here in several years. The quake was felt across much of western half of the archipelago nation. People in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, more than 310 miles to the southeast, as well as in the neighboring island state of Singapore fled their apartments after high-rise buildings swayed. The U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., put the strength of the quake at 7.9. The Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysical Service said it measured 7.3.