Death toll estimates from Indonesian island of Nias -- that was hit by an earthquake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale on Monday night -- varied widely from about 1000 to 2,000, official sources said.

While official reports put the number of confirmed dead at 440, relief workers said at least 1000 had died.

Another earthquake reported

Earlier, Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla had said that at least 2,000 people may have died in the quake.

"Maybe there are 1,000 to 2,000 people who have died, according to the early reports," Kalla said in an interview to el-Shinta radio station in Jakarta. Police reports are awaited, he said.

He clarified that the estimate was based on the number of buildings damaged on Monday night.

Read about: Waves of Destruction 

Barely hours after the telecast of the interview, Information Minister Sofyan Djalil said that initial reports indicated that around 200 had died.

The earthquake triggered tsunami alerts across the Indian Ocean and caused widespread panic.

The quake came three months after a quake in the same region caused tsunamis that killed over 270,000 people in Asia.

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