A strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the district of Sabah on Malaysia's Borneo island early Friday, US geologists said, but there were no initial reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, with its epicentre located 19 kilometres (12 miles) from the town of Ranau and 54 kilometres from Kota Kinabalu in the district of Sabah.

Malaysia does experience earthquakes but is outside the Ring of Fire, a belt of seismic activity running around the basin of the Pacific Ocean that includes neighbours Indonesia and the Philippines.

Malaysian social media users uploaded photos purportedly showing damaged roads, shattered storefront windows and cracked walls and floors in Sabah.

READ: Ranau earthquake: Residents advised to be on alert for aftershocks

READ: "It felt like a gigantic hand shaking my bed" - Sabah resident

But there were no initial reports of major damage.