CARACAS, Venezuela — A powerful earthquake hit northeastern Venezuela on Tuesday with a jolt that shook Caracas and Caribbean islands near the Venezuelan coast.

No deaths were immediately reported, Néstor Reverol, the interior minister, said in a televised address. He said that the quake had affected five states and that the Venezuelan government, already dealing with a devastating economic crisis, had deployed 20,000 emergency workers.

“It was just a very scary moment,” said Harrison Domínguez, 28, who lives in Yaguaraparo, about 12 miles from the quake’s epicenter. When the quake struck about 5:30 p.m., he said, “the light posts were moving as if they were trees during a hurricane.”

The shaking, Mr. Domínguez said, caused walls to crumble in nearby homes.

In Caracas, the capital, an unfinished skyscraper known as David’s Tower sustained damage to its upper floors and was leaning, Mr. Reverol said.