"Before sunset, just now, a quake shook Central Sulawesi and its surrounding areas," he said in a tweet.
He said he kept monitoring the development after the quake at 5.02pm with its epicenter in the district of Donggala.
"I am monitoring the situation and have ordered all the government agencies concerned to be ready to meet any eventualities after the quake," he said.
He called on people in the affected areas to remain calm. "I hope people remain calm and are all safe," he said.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) recorded several earthquakes before the biggest one hit.
It recorded a quake measuring 5 on the Richter scale at 2.28pm, 5.3 at 3.25pm, 6.1 at 5.14pm and 5.9 at 5.25pm.
It had sounded a tsunami warning for the western and northern parts of Donggala, the northern part of Mamuju and the western part of Palu city at 5.02pm but ended it at around 6pm.
Reporting by Bayu Prasetyo
Editing by Yoseph Hariyadi
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
