In a major earthquake, as many as 18 houses were damaged in Indonesia. Officials said that the earthquake measuring 6.4 magnitude jolts North Maluku province.

"We did not issue a warning for tsunami for this quake," Wahyu Kurniawan, an official of the meteorology and geophysics agency said.

The quake triggered panic in Ternate, Hallmahera Barat town and Bitung and Manado cities of North Sulawesi province, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of national disaster management agency said.

He added that the damages took place in Batang Dua sub-district, the nearest area with the quake epicentre.

Indonesia has often prone to quake as it lies on quake-hit zone called "the Pacific Ring of Fire".

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By M. Divya Shri