JAKARTA: A powerful 7.7-magnitude quake that struck off Flores island in east Indonesia 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.
The quake hit Indonesia's Flores region at a depth of 10 km at 5:58 am Saturday Indonesia time. It's epicentre was 68 km north-northwest of the city of Ende.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because of its location on the "Ring of Fire", an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.