There were no immediate reports of major damage, according to the government.

According to the USGS, the epicenter of the quake was located at a depth of 7.8 kilometers (4.8 miles) about 24 kilometers from Mene Grande, an oil town in a sparsely populated area of the state of Zulia.

The Colombian Geological Survey measured the tremor at 6.1 and categorized it as a "shallow depth" event also felt in neighboring Colombia and in the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire.

In Venezuela, where strong temblors are not common, shaking buildings caused alarm in cities including Caracas and Maracaibo.

People streamed out into the streets, but Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on state television the quake was "without significant structural damage."

Venezuela's own Funvisis seismological research body put the magnitude of the tremor at 5.4.

About 80 percent of Venezuelans live in seismic zones, but the country has not had a major event since 1997, when 73 people died when a quake hit Cariaco in the eastern state of Sucre.

In 1976, nearly 300 were killed and 2,000 injured when a tremor hit Caracas.