The jolt caused buildings to sway in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, more than 100 miles away, at 4:53 p.m. local time Friday.
"We ran away from the house when the tremor hit our coastal village," Enjen, a local fisherman who lives near the epicenter, told the Antara news agency. Many in Indonesia go by only one name.
He said some houses had cracked walls and roof tiles fell during the shaking.
Even though the sharp quake was centered beneath the seabed, geologists at Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the seismic event was too weak to generate a tsunami.
Many in western Indonesia are still on edge due to a 7.6 magnitude temblor that struck Sumatra on September 30, killing over a thousand people.
Cleanup and recovery operations are still in progress as more victims are being found beneath the rubble around the city of Padang.