One person has died after a major earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia this morning.

The 7.4-magnitude quake in the Molucca Sea between the Sulawesi and Maluku island groups sent people fleeing from their homes as buildings were toppled by the strong shaking.

It triggered waves up to two and a half feet high in places and prompted a tsunami warning that was subsequently lifted.

A 70-year-old was killed when a building collapsed in Manado,the region’s search and rescue chief George Leo Mercy Randang said,adding she was ‘buried under the rubble’.

The 7.4-magnitude quake struck in the Molucca Sea between the Sulawesi and Maluku island groups (Picture: Anadolu via Getty Images)

‘I didn’t know what to do. I was just trying to save my family,’ street food vendor Siti Rohayati,58,said of the moment the quake hit during the breakfast rush in Manado in North Sulawesi province.

‘All that mattered was getting my children away safely. I pushed all three of them and told them “Run!”’

Budi Nurgianto,a 42-year-old resident of Ternate in North Maluku province,said he was inside his house when the tremor struck.

‘The quake was felt strongly. I heard it first from the walls of the house that shook,’ he said.

Police officers inspect the site of a damaged building of National Sports Committee of Indonesia (Picture: Reuters)

Rescuers work in the rubble of damaged buildings in Manado,North Sulawesi,Indonesia (Picture: Xinhua/Shutterstock)

‘When I went outside,there were many people outside. They were panicked. The quake was felt (for) quite long,more than a minute.

‘I even saw some people leaving their house without having finished their shower.’

Indonesia is a tectonically complex part of ​the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’,a seismically active belt of volcanoes stretching from South America to the Russian Far East.

The epicentre of Thursday’s quake was roughly 360 miles south of the Philippine coast and 620 miles from Malaysia’s Sabah,and struck at a depth of 22 miles.

The United States Geological Survey said nine other quakes with a magnitude ​of 7 or more have occurred within 150 miles of Thursday’s event over the last 50 years but had not caused extensive damage.

Though the epicentre ​is within 93 miles of densely-populated islands like Ternate and Sulawesi,USGS said there was a ‘low likelihood’ of further casualties,and economic damage was also expected to be ‌limited.

A car wound up stuck in the wall of a damaged house after the earthquake (Picture: Anadolu/Getty Images)

Indonesia’s national ⁠disaster agency urged caution,saying: ‘Although relatively small,this situation still requires vigilance due to the potential for aftershocks.’

It said initial reports were of minor to moderate damage to several houses and a church,and a fuller assessment was underway.

Abdul Muhari,a spokesperson ⁠for Indonesia’s disaster agency,urged citizens to stay away from damaged buildings,warning that there were still aftershocks.

Indonesia’s Metro TV showed video footage of damaged buildings and a Manado resident told Reuters people ran out of their houses in panic.

There ​was no visible damage in her neighbourhood,but items fell off shelves and power had been cut,the ​resident said.

The Philippines’ seismology ⁠agency Phivolcs said there was ‘no destructive tsunami threat’ to the country based on its latest data,while Malaysia’s meteorological department said there was no immediate tsunami threat to the country but it was monitoring developments.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre warned of the risk of waves less than one foot over tide levels for the coasts ⁠of Guam,​Japan,Malaysia,Papua New Guinea,the Philippines and Taiwan.

Japan may see waves of up to (8 inches,but no damage is expected,the Japan Meteorological Agency said,as it warned a tsunami could occur in the Pacific.

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