JAKARTA, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to depart for Yogyakarta on Saturday afternoon to visit victims of the earthquake that hit the region earlier in the day, Antara news agency reported.

    The quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter Scale rocked Yogyakarta city, Klaten, Bantul and Gunung Kidul, in Yogyakarta Province on Saturday morning at around 5.55 a.m. local time (2255 GMT Friday).

    The quake which was felt at between the fifth and sixth level of the Modified Marcelli Intensity (MMI) in Yogyakarta, threw residents into panic amid rumors about impending tsunami.

    Yogyakarta Police Chief Brigadier General Bambang Sampurna Jatisaid that at least 1,424 people were killed in the disaster, and thousands of others were injured.

    "I will go to the earthquake hit areas," the President told thepress after officially opening a congress of the New Indonesian Society Party (PIB) in Jakarta on Saturday

    Susilo was initially to leave for Yogyakarta on Sunday, but after observing the magnitude of the damages and fatalities, he decided to leave on Saturday afternoon.

    Meanwhile, the secretary of the Bantul district administration Bambang told El-Shinta radio that in Bantul alone, some 1,555 people were killed and over 2,000 people were injured in the disaster.

    The quake's epicenter was located at 8.26 degrees southern latitude and 110.23 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 33 kilometers below the sea level, about 37.6 kilometers of south of Yogyakarta.

    Telecommunication network and electricity supply in Yogyakarta were cut off due to the earthquake, which could be felt at the fifth level of Modified Marcelli Intensity (MMI). Enditem