At least one dead after strong quake rocks eastern Indonesia

At least one person has died and another is missing after a strong earthquake struck Indonesia's remote Maluku islands Thursday, destroying homes and triggering landslides.

Terrified people ran into the streets as buildings fell in around them after the 6.5-magnitude quake hit at around 8:45 local time (0045 GMT).

An official from the local search and rescue agency said one man died after falling off his motorbike while trying to flee to higher ground, while another person was missing after being buried in a landslide.

People in Ambon, a city of about 400,000 people, were seen helping injured residents with blood-stained clothes, while images showed wrecked homes with collapsed walls and rubble strewn on the ground, but the extent of the damage was not immediately clear.

"The impact was felt across Ambon city and surrounding areas," said Rahmat Triyono, head of the earthquake and tsunami division at Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

"Many people were woken up by the shaking...it felt like a truck was passing by." The US Geological Survey said the quake struck about 37 kilometres (23 miles) northeast of Ambon in Maluku province at a depth of 29 kilometres.

The area was hit by at least two dozen aftershocks including one that measured 5. 6 magnitude, Triyono said.

"I was asleep with my family when suddenly the house started to shake," said an AFP reporter in Ambon.

"The quake was really strong. We ran from our house and saw the neighbours fleeing too. Everybody was panicking."