In one village, the roofs and walls of several damaged houses had collapsed. Debris and household items were scattered on the ground.
The epicentre of the quake was 427 kilometres south of the Indonesian island of Ambon at a depth of 95km, the US Geological Survey reported.
The country's disaster mitigation agency said at least 15 homes and two schools had been damaged in the Tanimbar Islands. The quake caused light poles to sway and sent residents running out of buildings and onto streets in Tual, a port in the Maluku archipelago, videos posted by users on Twitter showed.
"Sustained vigorous shaking here in #Darwin just now from what looks to be a pretty serious #earthquake to our north," user @OreboundImages tweeted."Was huge! Went on for ages, whole house was really shaking," still another Darwin resident noted.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
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