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JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia lifted a brief tsunami warning after a strong earthquake hit off the eastern island of Sumbawa, officials said.

The warning was lifted less than an hour after it was issued and no tsunami was recorded on the island, the meteorology office in Jakarta said.

"We have immediately made checks with the sensors nearest to the area hit by the quake," an official said.

"After about one hour passed without any signs of changing sea levels, we declared the tsunami warning cancelled," he said.
"There is nothing indicating that a tsunami has taken place."

The quake was centered 19 kilometres (12 miles) under the sea floor about 160 kilometres southeast of the town of Raba on Sumbawa, the office said.

It put the quake's magnitude at 6.5. The US Geological Survey initially recorded it at 5.6 before revising it down to 5.5.

A police officer on duty in the town of Dompu, about 40 kilometres west of Raba, said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

A telephone operator in Bali said the jolt was felt on the Indonesian resort island.

The operator, whose switchboard covers the Raba area, said telephone services between Bali and Raba appeared to be cut off.