An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 triggered a tsunami warning Monday on Indonesia's Java and Sumatra islands and Australia's Christmas and Cocos islands, tsunami and meteorological agencies said.

The earthquake, which hit at 3:24 p.m. (0824GMT) caused tall buildings to sway in the Indonesian capital and at least one other city on Java Island for around two minutes, witnesses said.

"There is a possibility of a destructive local tsunami in the Indian Ocean," Japan's Meteorological Agency said in a statement, adding that if triggered, waves should start reaching shores in the region within an hour.

However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an earlier bulletin warning of a possible tsunami, but said that based on historical data there was no threat it would be destructive or widespread.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in Indonesia or on Christmas Island.

"We haven't felt anything," Katrina Bird, a tourism official on Christmas said by telephone.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

A massive 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed at least 216,000 people _ nearly half of them in Indonesia's Aceh province.

On May 27, a magnitude-5.9 earthquake devastated a large swath of Java Island, killing more than 5,800 people.