Papua New Guinea hit by massive earthquake

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 has struck off the Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville early on Tuesday.

The earthquake, at 2.19 a.m, was centred about 94 km southwest of the town of Panguna on Bougainville Island, which sits to the northwest of the Solomon Islands. It struck about 30 km deep, making it a shallow earthquake.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre initially measured the earthquake at 6.7 before it was downgraded to 6.3 by the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat from the earthquake and no tsunami alerts have been issued.