The epicentre of the quake, which struck around 11:49 pm (1649 GMT), was around 156 kilometres east of Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, at a depth of 13.9 kilometres, according to the USGS.

The jolt was felt around the East Javan town of Sidoarjo, where an Islamic school building collapsed a day earlier, killing at least three people, with rescuers still racing to save dozens of victims trapped underneath piles of concrete rubble. It was not immediately clear whether the rescue operation was affected.

The quake prompted hotel guests staying in Sidoarjo to flee their rooms.

"I was still awake, still working when I suddenly saw the lamp swaying left and right," Indah Irianti, 42, told AFP.

"I got scared and I ran outside. I am traumatised by earthquakes because I experienced a massive one a few years ago in Jakarta."

There was no tsunami threat from the quake, according to Daryono, director of earthquake and tsunami of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG).

Daryono, who goes by one name like many Indonesians, said in a statement that as of 00:29 Jakarta time, four aftershocks were recorded, including one with 4.4 magnitude.

Indonesia, a vast archipelagic nation, experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire".

The arc of intense seismic activity, where tectonic plates collide, stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.