Jakarta, Indonesia:
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Papua New Guinea on Sunday, with locals reporting damage to buildings in the coastal city of Madang and further inland.
The US Geological Survey, which reported the quake, issued a tsunami warning, but later said the threat “has passed”.
However, it noted that there could still be “slight fluctuations in sea level in some coastal areas”.
Power outages and damage to buildings were reported in parts of Papua New Guinea, from cities near the epicenter to the capital of Port Moresby, about 300 miles (480 km) away. .
Images and video of damage to a university in the eastern highland city of Goroka show large cracks in the walls of walls and windows during the quake.
Local people in Madang told AFP that the quake was much stronger than previously reported.
“Very strong, everything was like sitting on the sea – just floating,” said Hivi Apokor, a worker at the Jais Aben Resort near Madang.
The USGS said the quake occurred at a depth of 61 kilometers (38 mi), about 67 kilometers from the city of Kayantu.
Papua New Guinea sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, which makes it experience frequent earthquakes.
In 2004 a 9.1-magnitude earthquake in neighboring Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 people across the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)