A powerful 6.3-magnitude quake today shook Indonesia's central Sulawesi province, damaging buildings and injuring at least three people.
Panicked residents in two mountainous districts near the epicentre ran from their homes into the streets as the quake rocked their villages for around 15 seconds.
An AFP reporter in the provincial capital Palu also felt violent shaking. "There are three villages near the epicentre where 23 homes have been damaged to some extent, and those villages are experiencing a blackout," head of Sigi district Disaster Mitigation Agency Rezmin Laze told AFP.
"At least three people have been injured by falling debris and rescuers are having difficulty evacuating them to Palu."
The quake hit around 56 kilometres southeast of Palu, according to the US Geological Service (USGS), at around 5:40 pm (0940 GMT) at a depth of 20 kilometres.
Parigi Moutong and Sigi districts were the hardest-hit, according to Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency.
Published 18 August 2012, 16:15 IST