The quake was centred 37 kilometres (23 miles) east of Kalabahi, a town on Alor -- part of a small chain of islands at the eastern end of Indonesia -- at 4:26 am Jakarta time (0226 GMT), Rahmat of the National Earthquake Centre said.

According to the Metro TV channel, at least one person was killed and six were injured. There was no immediate confirmation of the casualties.

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of thousands of islands, lies at the junction of three major tectonic plates that cause frequent earthquakes and trigger regular volcanic eruptions.

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