An undersea quake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck early Tuesday evening off East Timor, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage, Indonesian seismological officials reported.

The quake struck at 6:15 pm Jakarta time (1115 GMT), about 163 kilometres south-east of Dili, the capital of East Timor, according to Indonesia's National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

The event was centred about 30 kilometres beneath the seabed but did not trigger a tsunami, the agency said.

It was the second strong earthquake in three days to jolt the tiny country of East Timor, a former Indonesian province for nearly 25 years that gained independence in 2002.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Thursday in the eastern Indonesian islands of Maluku province, after a 7.6-magnitude quake struck islands on North Maluku earlier Thursday. The two quakes caused no injuries or damage.