Earthquakes off Papua New Guinea, Brazil

A strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck beneath the sea off Papua New Guinea yesterday, US seismologists said, prompting a local tsunami alert from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quake, which hit at 18.37 GMT yesterday at a depth of 43 kilometres some 122 kilometres west of the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.

“Earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within 100km of the earthquake epicentre,” the tsunami warning centre said in a statement.

Earlier yesterday a 6.0-magnitude earthquake rumbled in the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil, US-based seismologists said.

The quake, which struck at 13.08 GMT, was located along the central mid-Atlantic ridge, 1,277 kilometres east-northeast of Natal, Brazil.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake was at a depth of nine kilometres , but there were no immediate indications of a tsunami.