Gorontalo (ANTARA News) - A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake which was centered in Donggala district, Central Sulawesi province, on Friday evening caused panic-stricken residents in neighboring Gorontalo province to stay outdoors.

"This is a quite long quake which made us afraid and stay outdoors," Lili, a resident of Gorontalo city, said.

Daniel, a resident of Gorontalo district said he strongly felt the quake and asked all members of his family to stay outdoors.

"We took the step to anticipate a stronger quake and avoid undesired things," he said.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said earlier an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale rocked Central Sulawesi.

The epicenter of the quake which struck at 05.02 p.m. local time was located 18 degrees southern latitude and 119.85 degrees eastern longitude or 27 km northeast of Donggala at a depth of 10 km.

The quake prompted the BMKG to issue a tsunami early warning for the provinces of Central Sulawesi and West Sulawesi.

However, the agency lifted the tsunami early warning a half hour after the quake.

One person was reportedly killed and 10 others were injured due to the quake.

Chief of the Data and Information Center and Public Relations of the National Disaster Mitigation Board (BNPB) Sutopo Purwo Nugraha said the quake also caused damage to tens of houses.
Reporting by Adiwinata Solihin
Editing by Suharto, Yoseph Hariyadi

Reporter: Antara
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
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