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Maumere (AFP)
A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck off Flores island in east Indonesia on Saturday killed at least 20 people, an emergency official told AFP.
"From the reports we have received, 20 people have died, six are injured, and two are still buried," Maumere search and rescue official Fathur Rahman said by telephone from a boat on his way to the scene.
Residents in Nagekeo regency, the area closest to the epicentre, raced for higher ground as the sea retreated - a possible sign of an approaching tsunami, AFP journalists saw.
The warning was later lifted but people were warned not to return to damaged buildings for fear that aftershocks may bring them down.
The epicentre of the shallow quake was located off the north coast of the island, about 68 kilometres (42 miles) northwest of the coastal town of Ende, US and Indonesian authorities said.
The jolt was followed by strong aftershocks in the same area, including one with a magnitude of 6.1.
The full extent of the damage is still being assessed, and television footage showed rescuers combing through rubble in Maumere, a town on the north coast of Flores island, in search of trapped survivors.
The stricken area is comprised mostly of towns and villages with few to no high-rise buildings.
Tsunami warning ended
Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) initially warned of possible tsunami waves following the quake and urged people to get to higher ground.
An alert was initially issued for waves ranging from 0.5 metres to three metres (1.6 to 9.8 feet), but was later lifted.
"We have ended (the tsunami warning) but we will keep monitoring the sea level," said Wijayanto, who like many Indonesians, goes by one name.
Indonesia and neighbouring countries experience frequent earthquakes due to their location in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" - an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Later that year, a 7.5-magnitude quake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi island left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.
