The U.S. Geological Survey and Indonesian officials issued a tsunami warning after the earthquake struck 84 miles off the coastal town of Gorontalo but withdrew the warning when the ocean surge didn't materialize, Antara reported.

"Some residents saw an abnormal sea level as high as (6 feet). They thought that a tsunami would strike in a matter of minutes," said Nasir Maroto, a government official in the Buol district of Sulawesi.

Buol district officials said at least three people died in the area and about 700 houses collapsed. Officials in Kwandang village in Gorontalo province reported one man died and 23 people were injured.

Monitors indicated at least three powerful aftershocks of up to 6.0 on the Richter scale were recorded.

The earthquake came after Indonesia launched a tsunami warning system to prevent a repeat of the devastating tsunami in 2004 that killed more than 168,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province, Antara reported. The $130.2 million system can detect an earthquake at sea and predict within five minutes whether it could cause a tsunami.