Powerful earthquakes jolted the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday, destroying houses and killing at least one person. An official said widespread damage was expected.

The US Geological Survey said the strongest quake had a magnitude of 7.5 and was centred northeast of the central Sulawesi town of Donggala. It briefly triggered a tsunami warning. Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said communications with the region are disrupted. He said in a statement there is "much damage" in the Donggala area, which is home to about 3,00,000 people. Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the "Ring of Fire," in the Pacific Basin.