SYDNEY - A magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook a remote part of Papua New Guinea on Friday but there were no immediate reports of damage or that the quake triggered a tsunami. The US Geological Survey said on its Web site (www.usgs.gov) that the quake's epicentre was about 60 km (40 miles) south of the town of Arawa on Bougainville island at a depth of 53.7 km.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake was unlikely to have triggered a major tsunami.
"Based on all available data a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected," the centre said in a bulletin on its Web site (http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc).
"However, earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometres of the earthquake epicenter," it said.
Papua New Guinea lies along the "Ring of Fire", a belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean that is also prone to major earthquakes.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
