Rescue teams are continuing their search for survivors, and reports are still coming in from isolated villages.

More than 150 people were injured and hundreds of homes destroyed after the earthquake, which measured 6.5 on the Richter scale, struck the island of Mangole, east of Sulawesi.

The quake destroyed houses and triggered landslides. Mangole's main government buildings were flattened.

Strong aftershocks continued to rock the island on Tuesday, hampering rescue efforts.

About 7,000 people slept in tents or in the open, afraid that further tremors might bring down their damaged homes.

Widespread damage has also been reported on neighbouring Taliabu island, but there have been no reports of deaths.

Electricity and phones cut

Emergency flights have delivered food, medicine and water to the area.

Neither island has a major hospital, but officials have said that seriously injured victims have been airlifted to neighbouring islands for urgent treatment.

On Tuesday, electricity supplies remained cut in many places and telecommunications with both islands were patchy.

About 38,000 people live on Mangole, one of the more isolated of Indonesia's thousands of islands. Its economy is dominated by the timber industry.

Pacific 'ring of fire'

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck on Sunday night local time, at 1410GMT.

It was centred beneath the Maluku Sea, about 370km (230 miles) south of the city of Manado on Sulawesi, the US Meteorological and Geophysics Agency said.

Earthquakes are common in Indonesia, which lies astride the Pacific "ring of fire" - a line of volcanically active areas circling the Pacific basin.