A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage. The quake hit just after 4pm local time (0600GMT) at a depth of 31 kilometres (19 miles) some 122 kilometres (75 miles) south of Kokopo, the capital of PNG's East New Britain province, the USGS said.

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Trevor Allen said coastal communities near the epicentre would have felt "quite strong ground shaking" as the tremblor was close to the shore. But, he said, the area was relatively sparsely populated and flexible building design locally helped limit exposure to damage from quakes.