53 REPORTED DEAD IN INDONESIA QUAKE.

Byline: Ghafur Fadyl Associated Press 

Police and rescue workers scrambled Monday to count and locate victims after a powerful earthquake struck eastern Indonesia, destroying buildings and whipping up tidal waves that swept hundreds of homes out to sea.

Police said 53 people were killed in Saturday's magnitude-7 quake, and they expected the figure to rise as they contacted remote villages swept by tidal waves.

All the victims were reported on Biak Island, off the northern coast of the island of New Guinea.

"We have counted 53 killed by this time. But I think the figure will rise because there are some remote places that we have not yet contacted," police Lt. Col. Johannes Pieter Silooy told the Associated Press by phone from Biak. At least 19 people are missing and 85 were injured, he said.

Frightened by strong aftershocks that knocked down many buildings, thousands of Indonesians slept outdoors on New Guinea and other islands in the Indonesian archipelago over the weekend.

Nearly 1,000 homes were destroyed by the 21-foot tidal waves that washed over the coast of New Guinea and several surrounding islands Saturday, said R. Yap, a local government official.

Waves slamming into Biak island washed 600 homes out to sea and destroyed several bridges, Yap said. Biak police Sgt. Sodi Irwanto said some victims were crushed inside collapsing buildings.

The government was sending rescue teams, marines and other military personnel to the area, said a soldier contacted by telephone at the military command in Jayapura, capital of Indonesia's Irian Jaya province.

Several mosques, shopping centers and several government buildings were flattened, police said.

Irwanto was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying the situation in Biak was chaotic and many of its 84,000 residents were panicked by the aftershocks.

"How can we save these poor people when we have limited means to do so? We can't even get to Biak Island because the airport is closed while other means may take too long," he said.

Biak has an international airport where flights by the state-owned Garuda airline stop before continuing to Los Angeles. It was not known whether any foreigners were among the victims.

"The control tower was destroyed and could not monitor or direct incoming flights," Sodik Hasanuddin, manager of the airport, was quoted by Antara on Sunday.

The quake hit at 2:59 p.m. Saturday (12:59 a.m. EST). It was centered under the ocean floor 68 miles east of Biak Island, the Indonesian government said.