JAKARTA: Indonesian authorities say the death toll from a strong earthquake in the country's east has climbed to 23.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency says most of the victims of Thursday's magnitude 6.5 quake in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, were killed by collapsing houses and buildings.
In addition to the dead, the agency says more than 100 people have been injured.
The agency said Friday that at least 117 houses and buildings were damaged and about 15,000 people are being housed in temporary shelters.
Parts of a building at an Islamic university collapsed. Local disaster official Albert Simaela said a teacher was killed there when parts of the building fell on her.
Mr Simaela said a main hospital in Ambon was damaged and patients were evacuated to tents in the hospital's yard.
The magnitude 6.5 quake was centred 33km northeast of Ambon at a depth of 18km, the US Geological Survey said.
Rahmat Triyono, head of Indonesia's earthquake and tsunami center, said the inland earthquake did not have the potential to cause a tsunami, but witnesses told television stations that people along coastal areas ran to higher ground in fear one might occur.
Mr Simaela said many people drove to higher ground by motorbike and car, causing traffic congestion in Ambon.
"The temblor was so strong, causing us to pour into the streets,'' said Musa, an Ambon resident who uses a single name. He said there were no injuries or damage in his neighborhood, but that people on social media reported damage elsewhere in the city.
The national disaster mitigation agency said the quake caused cracks in a main bridge in Ambon, and pictures released by the agency showed minor damage at Pattimura University in the city. Several houses, universities and local government offices were also damaged.
With a population of around 1.7 million, Maluku is one of Indonesia's least populous provinces.
Thursday's earthquake came two days ahead of the first anniversary of a devastating 7.5-magnitude earthquake in Palu on Sulawesi island. The temblor set off a tsunami as well as a phenomenon called liquefaction in which wet soil is collapsed by the shaking. The disaster claimed more than 4,000 lives, many of the victims buried when whole neighbourhoods were swallowed in the falling ground.
A powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.
Home to more than 260 million people, Indonesia has frequent seismic activity due to its location along the Pacific "Ring of Fire".