Twenty dead after Indonesia's magnitude-7.7 earthquake

"The quake was massive, the shock was so strong, we were resting at home with family," said Nona, a 51-year-old resident of Talibura, a village in East Nusa Tenggara. "There were 13 of us inside the house and we all ran to save ourselves."

Strong shaking was felt across East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara and parts of South Sulawesi, and residents in several areas reported shaking lasting about one minute, BNPB said in a statement.

"Most of the people felt the shock and scattered out of their homes," it said.

A hospital in the district of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara Province was moving patients outside, Kompas TV footage showed, and Kompas.com reported at least one landslide.

Indonesian geophysics agency BMKG recorded the first quake at 04:58 (21:58 GMT) at a depth of 15 kilometres (nine miles), followed by several aftershocks.