Indonesian island hit by quake

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake has rocked an island in north-east Indonesia, killing one person and damaging dozens of houses.

One report said a three-year-old child was killed in the quake, which hit the island of Morotai in North Maluku.

"Reports from the area said 20 houses were totally destroyed and 28 others damaged," said Handi Sulistion, an official at the Jakarta's office of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

Morotai lies about 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) northeast of Jakarta, the capital.

The quake struck at 1923 GMT and was centred in the Halmahera Sea, about 365 kilometres east of Bitung, a coastal town on North Sulawesi, Handi said.

The quake also jolted several other towns including Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi.

An official at the meteorology office in the North Maluku provincial capital of Ternate said all the damaged homes were in the Bere-bere district in the north of Morotai.

Power was cut in the island's main town Daruba after several electricity pylons were toppled, the official added.

Correspondents said the island could not be reached by telephone and officials were getting reports from the military in Morotai by radio.