JAKARTA, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Java on Wednesday killing at least 15 people, the country's national meteorology and geophysics center reported.

The center said there is no threat of a major tsunami, though a warning has been announced for smaller tsunamis within a 100-kilometer (62-mile) radius from the epicenter.

The quake, which registered 7.4 on the Richter scale, struck at 2:55 pm local time [GMT 07:55] some 140 kilometers (87 miles) to the south of Bandung.

RIA Novosti's correspondent in Jakarta said the earthquake was felt in the Indonesian capital, where a number of buildings were evacuated during the quake.

Each year, close to 7,000 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or higher are registered in Indonesia.