At least nine people were killed and more than one hundred feared injured after a strong earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Ritcher Scale hit the Bengkulu province of Indonesia on Wednesday, the Disaster Management Agency said in Jakarta Thursday.

Agency official Firman Haye said that seven of the fatalities were in Bengkulu city, capital of Bengkulu province, and two others in Padang, capital of West Sumatra province.

Until Thursday morning, strong and moderate aftershocks continued to hit Bengkulu province, leaving people afraid to return home.

"Many of the people in the city built tents outside far from buildings," provincial Red Cross worker Sugent Suyatno told Xinhua News Agency.

Outside the biggest provincial hospital in the city, soldiers, police and Red Cross staff built tents outside the cracked hospital buildings as an extra precaution, said Suyatno.

"Over 160 patients have been evacuated from inside the hospital building," he said.

Local television footage showed that patients lying on beds were moved out of damaged hospital buildings in Bengkulu and West Sumatra provinces.

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2007)