Magnitude 6.9 quake shakes Papua New Guinea

A powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake shook the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea and potentially generated small tsunami waves on Friday, a month after a deadly quake there killed more than 100 people.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a Pacific-wide tsunami was not expected, but tsunami waves up to 1 meter (3 feet) were possible for some coasts of Papua New Guinea and less than that for the Solomon Islands.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey said was centered in a remote area of East New Britain province.

USGS reported the quake had a depth of 21 kilometers (35 miles) and was 162 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of Rabaul.

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake on Feb. 26 killed at least 125 people, injured dozens and brought work to a halt at four oil and gas fields.

Home to 7 million people, Papua New Guinea is located to the east of Indonesia and sits on the Pacific's "Ring of Fire."

Associated Press