A powerful earthquake has hit waters off Indonesia's resort island of Bali, sending people fleeing homes and hotels in panic.

No tsunami alert was issued but Thursday's quake left at least 17 people injured.

Indonesia's geological agency put the quake's magnitude at 6.8, but the US Geological Survey said it was 6.0.

The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

The quake rocked the main tourist district of Kuta for several minutes, said Endro Tjahjono from the Bali office of Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

"There was panic - everyone ran out of the buildings. When we returned to our office building, we saw some cracks on the wall and plaster had come off the walls," he told the AFP news agency.

Several hospitals, three schools and two government buildings suffered some damage, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman of the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency, told AFP.

Hundreds of terrified tourists on Kuta's beach strip raced from their hotels, officials and hotel staff said.

"It was a chaotic scene. Tourists dashed out of their hotels to the roads screaming 'Quake! Quake!'," Perry Markus, Bali Hotels and Restaurant Association secretary-general, said.

The quake struck 60km beneath the ocean floor.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Indonesian man looks at a minivan crushed by a chunk of concrete fallen from a building after an earthquake in Kuta Bali Indonesia on Thursday Oct 13 2011

Al Jazeera