At least 10 people have died as landslides caused by a strong and shallow earthquake hits Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island early Friday.

People fled their homes and more than 200 have been injured authorities said.

Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency has released several videos showing the devastating effect on lives and properties.

The videos showed people crying out for help. Children were reportedly buried under tons of rubble, while others got trapped in collapsed buildings.

A girl trapped in the wreckage of a house cried out for help and said she heard the sound of other family members in the rubble but unable to move out. ``Please help me, it hurts,'' the girl told rescuers, who replied that they desperately wanted to help her.

Thousands have been evacuated to temporary shelters. Rescuers say a lack of heavy equipment was hampering the operation.

On Thursday, a 5.9 magnitude undersea quake hit the same region, damaging several homes but there was no casualties.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 260 million people, is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the ``Ring of Fire,'' an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

In 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Palu on Sulawesi Island set off a tsunami and caused soil to collapse in a phenomenon called liquefaction.

More than 4,000 people died, many of the victims buried when whole neighborhoods were swallowed in the falling ground.

Africanews