Huge quake strikes off Indonesia: USGS

Residents walk on a collapsed mosque in Blang Mancung village after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit Aceh province July 3, 2013. Twenty seven people were killed and more than 200 were injured after the earthquake struck Aceh province on Tuesday, local media
Residents walk on a collapsed mosque in Blang Mancung village after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit Aceh province July 3, 2013. Twenty seven people were killed and more than 200 were injured after the earthquake struck Aceh province on Tuesday, local media reported. REUTERS/Roni Bintang

A huge 7.7 magnitude quake struck off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

An earlier quake destroyed some houses, killing one person and injuring at least 10, authorities said.

A series of earthquakes in July and August killed nearly 500 people on the holiday island of Lombok, hundreds of kilometers southwest of Sulawesi.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes.

In 2004, a big earthquake off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami across the Indian Ocean, killing 226,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.

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