A powerful earthquake flattened buildings in central Indonesia on Saturday, killing at least 3,000 people and injuring thousands more in the country's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

The magnitude 6.2 quake struck at 5.54 am local time near the ancient city of Yogyakarta as many people slept, causing death and damage in many nearby towns.

Sixteen hours after the quake struck, the number of dead stood at 3,068, Social Affairs Ministry official Sopar Jaya
said adding, that two-thirds of the fatalities occurred in devastated Bantul.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the army to help evacuate victims and arrived in densely populated Central Java province on Saturday afternoon with a team of Cabinet ministers to oversee rescue operations.