Five dead after magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes off Indonesia

At least five people have died after an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 and dozens of aftershocks struck off eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, a provincial governor said.

Tsunami waves of less than 1 metre were recorded in several areas of the Southeast Asian nation. The tsunami warning was lifted about three hours after the quake.

The governor of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, told a press conference the five people died from collapsing rubble as they slept.

The national disaster mitigation agency BNPB put the toll at one dead and four injured.

Parts of a building collapsed into dust and rubble as people screamed and ran in the street, a video on Facebook, verified by Reuters as being at a port in Maumere, showed. It is the main town in Sikka Regency on Flores Island in the east of Indonesia's vast archipelago.

"The quake was massive, the shock was so strong, we were resting at home with family," said Nona, a 51-year-old resident of Talibura, a village in East Nusa Tenggara. "There were 13 of us inside the house, and we all ran to save ourselves."

Strong shaking was felt across East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara and parts of South Sulawesi, and residents in several areas reported shaking lasting about one minute, BNPB said in a statement.

"Most of the people felt the shock and scattered out of their homes," it said.

A hospital in the district of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara Province was moving patients outside, Kompas TV footage showed, and Kompas.com reported at least one landslide.

Indonesian geophysics agency BMKG recorded the first quake at 4:58 am (2158 GMT) at a depth of 15 km, followed by several aftershocks.

About 2,000 residents in Nagekeo were evacuated, and damage was reported to several houses, warehouses, and government facilities, BNPB said. Authorities also reported traffic congestion and power outages affecting parts of the regency, it said.

Australia's tsunami warning centre said the undersea earthquake would have "no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, islands or territories".

Indonesia straddles the "Pacific Ring of Fire", a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the Earth’s crust meet, creating a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.