A strong 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia's Papua province early on Tuesday, damaging buildings and leaving a teenager missing. 

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 6:41 am local time about almost 250 km west of Papua's provincial capital Jayapura on Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey. 

The earthquake caused a 15-year-old boy to be swept away in a river after he fell into it in Indonesia's Memberamo district, according to reports. 

No tsunami warning was issued following the massive quake and casualties were expected to be minimum as the epicentre was in a forest region. 

However, there was a possibility of landslides in the mountainous region, the Earthquake-Report monitoring website said, according to AFP. 

Several buildings, including a church were damaged in the quake, and created panic in the region. 

"Everyone panicked, they were running from their houses," Yonas Taufudu, a disaster mitigation official in Jayapura, told The Associated Press. 

Indonesia lies in the Pacific 'rign of Fire' and is prone to earthquakes.