Jakarta: Before the tsunami threat passed, a strong undersea earthquake early on Tuesday sent waves of people running to higher ground in eastern Indonesia.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency released video showing the evacuation of some hospital patients to the hospital's yard as cracks appeared in the facility's floor and streams of people in a village on Mentawai Island fled to the highlands on foot and motorcycles in the rain and darkness.

Districts and cities in the provinces of West Sumatra and North Sumatra felt the shocks, and some places issued orders for evacuations to higher ground.

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According to agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari, residents in some areas of West Sumatra province, including the provincial capital of Padang, felt the earthquake strongly for about 30 seconds.

He added that although the tsunami alert had been lifted, "many residents in several villages on Mentawai island chose to stay displaced in higher ground due to fears of aftershocks." He also noted that authorities were still gathering data regarding the damage.

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The South Nias regency of North Sumatra's coastal town Teluk Dalam was 170 kilometres (105 miles) southeast of the epicentre of the magnitude 7.1 earthquake, which was centred there at a depth of 15 kilometres (9 miles), according to the US Geological Survey. Aftershocks with a 5.8 magnitude were recorded.

About two hours after the earthquake, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia lifted the initial tsunami alert. The agency's preliminary magnitude was originally 7.3, but was later revised to 6.9. Early measurements frequently differ.

A minor tsunami measuring 11 centimetres (4.3 inches) was detected in the Tanah Bala coastal area of South Nias regency, according to Daryono, the agency's head of the Earthquake and Tsunami Centre.

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270 million people live in the vast archipelago of Indonesia, which is frequently hit by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis.
At least 340 people were killed and more than 62,600 homes were damaged by a magnitude 5.6 earthquake that struck West Java in November.