WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- The United States said Wednesday so far 518 people have been confirmed dead in this week's earthquake in the Indian Ocean.
The epicenter of Monday night's 8.7 magnitude quake was just about 200 miles southeast of the one three months ago, which triggered a tsunami that left nearly 300,000 people dead or missing across Asia.
U.S. State Department's deputy spokesman Adam Ereli told a briefing in Washington that so far the United Nations has confirmed 518 deaths while thousands have been injured.
He said a joint Indonesian and U.N. assessment team has visited the worst-affected islands of Nias and Simeulue and will submit a detail report later.
Unofficial sources said more than 1,000 people have been killed in the earthquake. The Indonesian ministry of public works reported that 85 percent of the structures in Nias have been damaged.
