Papua New Guinea rocked by strong quake

A quake with a magnitude of 6.0 struck the remote Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

A quake with a magnitude of 6.0 struck the remote Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

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The quake hit at 10.43am local time (0043 GMT) 153 kilometres (95 miles) west-southwest of Arawa, in central Bougainville, at a depth of 44 kilometres, the USGS said.

"At this stage no information has been received of any damage or tsunamis, that sort of thing," said local seismologist Lawrence Anton.

"I don't think we would be expecting anything serious like a tsunami or big damage," Anton told AFP.

The tremor was a "typical interaction of the Solomon plate and the Pacific plate", he added.

Papua New Guinea sits on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," where continental plates meet. The region is frequently rocked by earthquakes.