JAKARTA, Dec. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- The Indonesian health ministry warned on Friday that the death toll in the Tsunami in provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, Indonesia, could reach to 100,000 and that water-born disease could become a threat, a senior official said.

    Officials were continuously finding more bodies from the devastated remote northwest coast of Sumatra islands said Syafei Achmad senior official of the health ministry.

    In addition to, the scores of bodies were still uncounted, suchas all those died in the hard-hit town of Maulaboh, he said.

    "We predict the death toll to rise to 100,000 because we're finding more and more bodies," Achmad told Xinhua in a telephone interview.

    The health ministry has officially announced that the total casualty in the two provinces reach to 79,940 people and 1,240 people missing.

    The disaster had also seriously injured 484 people and caused 1,602 people to suffer minor injury, the ministry said.

    Some 41,783 people have left their home since the quake shocked the provinces on Sunday morning, unleashing tidal waves.

    The health minister also warned of possible disease outbreak in the areas such as cholera and diarrhea.

    Previously, Coordinator of Medial team for the victims of the Tsunami Yus Rizal told Xinhua in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, that they had supplied some 30 tons medicine to the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra.

    "We will try to prevent of the disease outbreak by supplying medicine as many as possibly," he said.

    Meanwhile, Indonesian Minster of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamzah said in Medan city that the authorities would work hard to protect people from the attacks of possibly emerging epidemic.

    "They (ministries) all know what to do in this situation," Chamzah said.

    Regarding to the situation of the areas post the quake, he said that some 20 percent of electricity could operate in Banda Aceh the capital of Aceh province now, but telecommunication still paralyzed.

    An extremely powerful earthquake of 8.7 at Richter degree shocked many parts of the provinces of North Sumatera and Aceh, Indonesia around 08:00 (local time) earlier Sunday.

    The center of the earthquake took place in Maulabo, Aceh, the country's westernmost province, at 3.6 degree of North latitude and 96.28 degree of East Longitude.

    Local office of Indonesian Meteorological and Geological bureau said that some major cities and towns surrounding such as Bireun, Medan and even Padang on the island could felt the strong tremor.

    Up to now, the quake has already caused some hundreds houses collapsed, electricity cut off in most of the areas and bridges damaged.

    Meanwhile, telecommunication lines from Banda Aceh city were cut because most equipment was inundated by tsunami generated by the quake.

    Sunday's quake was the third major to hit Indonesia after Nabire in Papua on Nov. 26 which killed 17 people and Alor in EastNusa Tenggara on Nov. 12, which killed at least 27 people.

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