A strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake has struck near a major town in Papua New Guinea, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
A subsequent reading put the quake at 6.7 and said it occurred 103 kilometres east of Lae, the country’s second largest town, on the PNG east coast.
The tremor was recorded at a depth of 45 kilometres.
No tsunami warning has been issued.
A spokeswoman for the Morobe Provincial Government in the area said the quake caused no damage and was barely noticed.
Lae police and hotel receptionists also said there were no reports of damage or sea level changes.
A giant tsunami in 1998, caused by an undersea earthquake or a landslide, killed more than 2,000 people near Aitape, on the country’s northwest coast.
