The quake struck in the early evening at 1024 GMT and was centred 50 kilometres (31 miles) beneath the coast of Seram island in Maluku province, said Nugroho, of the Meteorology and Geophysics Bureau in Jakarta.

Another seismologist, Beni Sipola, said the epicentre was about 40 kilometres east of Amahai, the island's main town.

Sipola, speaking from the provincial capital Ambon, said he had not yet received reports from the sparsely-populated area.

"At that depth, there is enough potential to cause damage on the surface," he said.

Hong Kong's observatory estimated the quake's intensity at 6.2 on the Richter scale.

On December 26 last year, a 9.3-magnitude quake off the west coast of Aceh on Sumatra islan triggered tsunamis that left at least 217,000 people dead around the Indian Ocean, including 131,000 in Aceh.

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

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