JAKARTA, Feb. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The death toll from the devastatingearthquake in the Indonesia town of Nabire rose to 37 on Thursday,an official said.

    Another 592 residents were injured, some seriously, in the earthquake on Feb. 6, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale -- thought to be the largest quake in the region since 2000.

    "The death toll will probably rise because searches are still taking place in the more remote areas here," Edy Thalib of the Papua Natural Disaster and Refugee Management Task Force was quoted Friday by The Jakarta Post as saying in Nabire.

    According to the task force, 858 residential houses, 53 places of worship, 25 school buildings and nine bridges were destroyed inthe earthquake and its aftershocks.

    Residents have been reluctant to return to their homes because of the frequent aftershocks, the latest occurring on Thursday.

    Mardianto from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Nabire said he could not say when the aftershocks would end, but that there would not be another earthquake as big as the one on Feb. 6 at the same epicenter.

    Edy said malaria and dysentery had begun to sweep through the quake survivors, many of whom are living in tents.

    "A total of 803 people have been treated at the Nabire hospitalfor malaria and dysentery," he said.

    Food and medicine from various sources are arriving in the city.Enditem