A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Indonesia sparking a brief tsunami warning and sending terrified residents running for higher ground.
Panic broke out as buildings swayed and electricity was cut off when the quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10 miles off the east coast of Sulawesi island.
Indonesia's geophysics agency issued a tsunami warning for coastal communities in Morowali district, where residents were advised to move away from the coast.
The epicenter of the quake was off the coast of eastern Sulawesi, 175 miles south of the province of Gorontalo and on the other side of the island from disaster-hit city of Palu, where a 7.5-magnitude quake followed by a 20ft tsunami killed more than 4,400 people last September.
This photograph taken with a mobile phone shows Indonesian residents rushing for higher ground fearing a tsunami after the strong earthquake rocked Luwuk, Indonesia on Friday
However tremors were still felt near Palu, causing residents to run into the streets in panic.
After about 40 minutes the agency lifted the tsunami warning, while still urging people to remain vigilant and evacuate to higher ground.
Footage uploaded on Twitter showed families - some with young children - carrying bags as they left their apartment blocks (left) and crowded into the streets of Central Sulawesi (right) in Indonesia following a large earthquake on Friday
Locals fear another destructive quake like the one that hit the western city of Palu in September, which displaced at least 170,000 residents
Video footage from Luwuk city showed scared residents - some carrying children - running from their homes and racing to higher ground on motorcycles.
Gina Saerang, a resident of Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province several hundred kilometres from the epicentre, described the quake on social media as 'strong and long lasting'.
'I ran straight outside after the earthquake - everything was swaying,' 29-year-old Palu resident Mahfuzah told AFP.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but the USGS warned that considerable damage was possible in poorly built or badly designed structures.
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