LOS ANGELES - Strong aftershocks of last Sunday's devastating earthquake continue to rock southeast Asia, with five temblors of a magnitude 5.6 or greater in the last 24 hours, the US Geological Survey said on Wednesday.
The most recent one was a magnitude 5.7 that struck 75 km (47 miles) west-southwest of Banda Aceh, Indonesia at just after 4 a.m. Thursday local time (2100 GMT), according to the Web site of the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program.
The strongest of the five most recent aftershocks was 6.2 magnitude and occurred just before 11:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday, 90 km (56 miles) north of the Nicobar Islands.
In total, nearly 70 earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater have struck the region since Sunday, when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake caused one of the most devastating tsunamis in history.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies put the death toll at nearly 78,000, a figure expected to rise substantially in coming days.
Waverly Person, a director with the USGS, said the region could expect strong aftershocks for "weeks and months" but another major earthquake like Sunday's was unlikely.
(Additional reporting by Philip Barbara in Washington)
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
