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More than 5,000 people are now known to have died in an earthquake that shook the area around Indonesia's ancient royal city of Yogyakarta early on Saturday. The Antara news agency quoted Yogyakarta's police chief as giving a total death toll of over 1,400. Meanwhile Kinta, an official from the Social Ministry, told Elshinta news radio: "For the time being we recorded the total as 1,325 people." She said the figure did not include people still buried or trapped under rubble of collapsed buildings. Yogyakarta is on Indonesia's main island of Java and near Mount Merapi, a volcano that has been on top alert for a major eruption this month. A vulcanologist in Yogyakarta said the quake was not caused by the volcano, but Merapi's activity increased after the shock. The epicentre of the quake -- which struck just before 6 a.m. (2300 GMT) with a magnitude of 6.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey -- was offshore. Jakarta earthquake centre official Fauzi said there was no tsunami. Yogyakarta is about 25 km (16 miles) north of the Indian Ocean coast and 440 km (275 miles) east of Jakarta. Hospital officials said the dead had generally suffered head injuries and broken bones from collapsing buildings. Witnesses said thousands of houses had collapsed in the quake. Office and government buildings were also in ruins. Hospital patients had been moved outside due to fears of aftershocks. One Yogyakarta hospital alone said it was treating 1,500 people injured by the quake. Yogyakarta's airport was closed with a damaged runway, transportation minister Hatta Rajasa told local radio. Access to the city by road was difficult. Thousands of residents were taking refuge in Yogyakarta's main square while others sheltered in the compounds of scores of mosques, churches and hospitals throughout the region. Jakarta earthquake centre official Fauzi put the quake's strength at 5.8 and said the epicentre was in the sea about 50 km (31 miles) south of Yogyakarta at a depth of 33 km (21 miles). President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who plans to visit the area on Saturday. Yogyakarta's royal palaces and the nearby Borobudur temple complex are prime attractions for domestic and foreign tourists, and many foreigners study the Indonesian language at schools in the city which offer intensive courses. Indonesia sits on the Asia-Pacific's so-called "Ring of Fire" marked by heavy volcanic and tectonic activity. According to a vulcanologist the hot, dense gas clouds, which local residents call "shaggy goats", coming out of Mount Merapi after the quake stretched 4 km (2.5 miles) down the mountainside. They reached 6 km (3.75 miles) before Merapi's last major eruption.