Residents from Pa Khlok to Patong, Kathu and Thalang reported a loud rumbling and animals howling.
According to the US Geological Survey, which monitors quakes worldwide, the quake registered 4.3 on the Richter scale, with an epicentre close to Phi Phi, about 30 kilometres from Phuket Town.
Thai media reported the quake as a 4.6-Richter just south of Koh Yao Yai that was felt on all sides of Phang Nga Bay, in Phang Nga and Krabi as well as Phuket.
The Klong Marui quake fault line runs close to the east coast of Phuket and is the source of quakes that rock the island every now and then, but none major so far.
Apart from local earthquakes Phuket has also felt shocks from ongoing quakes near Sumatra in Indonesia, in the area where a major quake in 2004 triggered the Asian Tsunami.
The only time in recent years that damage was done to homes was on April 16, 2012, after which the government handed out B1.3 million to 410 residents who lived in houses whose walls or roofs had been damaged.
Reports of quakes in Phuket since 2012: