Telangana News

According to the US Geological Survey, 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea.

At 8.51 pm local time (4.21 p.m. IST), the earthquake struck 60 km to the east of Taron, New Ireland, at a depth of some 75 km. Initially, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre warned hazardous waves could hit coastal areas of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nauru, the Solomon Islands and others. But 2 hours later, the PTWC said the threat had passed, despite some tsunami waves having been observed.

New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence also briefly issued a tsunami warning for all of the country's coast.

“Large #earthquake in PNG. Our team reports that people moving to higher ground in some areas due to #tsunami potential," Oxfam in the Pacific tweeted. 

According to Geoscience Australia seismologist Dan Jaksa, quake made the likelihood of a tsunami "low". "This region of PNG is also pretty remote and very, very sparsely populated," he added.

"There would definitely have been shaking, in fact we logged it as shaking felt as much as 3,400 kilometres away, which would include population centers like Rabaul (on Papua New Guinea's New Britain island). But it was far enough away for the shaking to not be strong."

The USGS said on its website that "some casualties and damage are possible and the impact should be relatively localized."