At least two people were injured and scores of houses and churches were damaged after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hits off central and eastern Indonesia early on Thursday, a senior official of a disaster agency said here on Friday, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
The tremors destroyed 15 houses, three churches and one school building, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency Agus Wibowo told Xinhua in a text message.
At least 87 aftershocks, two of them with a magnitudes of 5.9, followed the main shock, according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency.
The jolts of the quakes were felt in South Sulawesi province in the central part of Indonesia and North Maluku province in the country's eastern part, the agency said.
The strong quake rocked at 11:17 p.m. local time on Thursday (1617 GMT) with the epicenter at 137 km northwest of North Maluku province's town of Jailolo in the depth of 73 km under the sea bed, the agency said.
In July, a 7.3-magnitude quake jolted Maluku province, leaving at least four people dead, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.
Indonesia is prone to earthquakes as it lies on a vulnerable quake-hit area called "the Pacific Ring of Fire."