Tsunami warning after PNG quake
A large undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 has jolted an area off the north coast of Papua New Guinea, seismologists say, prompting a warning of local tsunamis.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii says the quake does not bring a risk of a Pacific-wide tsunami. But it warned it could generate localised destructive tsunamis.
"Earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometres of the earthquake epicentre," it says.
"Authorities in the region should be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action."
There were no initial reports of damage in the area, but PNG natural disaster officials were not immediately available.
Several large quakes have hit the region over the past week.
In July 1998, two undersea quakes measuring 7.0 created three tsunamis that killed at least 2100 people near the town of Aitape on Papua New Guinea's north coast.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) says on its website that the latest quake was located in the New Britain area of PNG.
The survey, which subsequently revised its original magnitude of 6.8, says it occurred at 00:20 local time on Monday (14:20 UTC Sunday).
Geophysicist Don Blakeman at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, says the quake occurred "in the crust of the ocean, not on land".
Geoscience Australia says it has also recorded the quake, about 250 kilometres south of Rabaul on New Britain island, but it had no indication whether it had caused a local tsunami.
New Britain, which has a population of about 20,000, lies 475 kilometres northeast of the PNG capital, Port Moresby.
Several quakes higher than magnitude 6 have hit PNG in the past three months, one undersea in the same region, but none has caused serious damage or casualties.
Seismically active, Papua New Guinea lies on "the Ring of Fire", a zone of volcanic activity that accounts for 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes.
The town of Rabaul was destroyed in the September 1994 eruption of Tuvurvur volcano.