A powerful earthquake struck an area off Indonesia's northern Sulawesi early on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring nearly 40 after hundreds of houses collapsed, a disaster official said.

The quake, measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale with a depth of 21km, with its epicentre 136 km (84 miles) northwest of the provincial capital of Gorontalo, the US Geological Survey said.
A series of further weaker aftershocks struck in the same area of the Celebes Sea bordering the southern Philippines.

According to Rustam Pakaya, head of the Indonesian health ministry's crisis centre, two people had died, one in Gorontalo after a building collapsed and another in the district of Buol in Central Sulawesi province, 37 people sustained injuries.


More than 200 houses were damaged in Buol, Pakaya said, adding there were reports of collapsed schools and homes in Gorontalo.

In the town of Poso in central Sulawesi, residents rushed out of their houses and patients were evacuated from a hospital, Metro TV reported.

Schools were also closed in some areas of Sulawesi, Elshinta radio station reported.


Agencies