SINGAPORE (Reuters) - An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude struck 500 km (310 miles) west of the Pacific island of Tonga on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.

There was also no immediate tsunami warning. </s> Nuku'alofa: A massive earthquake of magnitude 8.0 has struck in the Pacific Ocean close to Tonga, the US Geological Survey says.

The quake which struck on Sunday morning, is not expected to trigger a tsunami as it is too deep. </s> A massive quake of magnitude 8.2 struck in the Pacific Ocean close to Fiji and Tonga on Sunday but it was so deep that it was not expected to cause any damage, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center also said the quake was too deep to cause a tsunami.

The quake was 347.7 miles (560 km) below the Earth which would have dampened the shaking at the surface.

'I would not expect any damage. People will feel it but it's so deep that I would not expect any damage,' USGS geophysicist Jana Pursley said by telephone.

The quake was initially reported as a magnitude 8.0 and then upgraded to 8.2, a magnitude that could cause tremendous damage had it not been so deep.

The epicenter was located 167 miles (270 km) east of Levuka in Fiji and 275 miles (443 km) west of Neiafu in Tonga.

The area is located on the earthquake-prone Ring of Fire. </s> (CNN) -- A massive 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, roughly 200 miles off Fiji and almost the same distance from Tonga, according to the preliminary report from the US Geological Survey.

The earthquake struck just after midday Sunday and was almost 560 kilometers deep, the USGS said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said based on the data available, a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami was not expected, and there was no threat to Hawaii.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. </s> A massive 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, roughly 200 miles off Fiji and almost the same distance from Tonga, according to the preliminary report from the US Geological Survey.

The earthquake struck just after midday Sunday and was almost 560 kilometers deep, the USGS said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said based on the data available, a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami was not expected, and there was no threat to Hawaii. – READ MORE

TANJUNG, Indonesia (AP) — Scientists say the powerful Indonesian earthquake that killed nearly 400 people lifted the island it struck by as much as 25 centimeters (10 inches).

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said on Saturday that 387 people died, jumping from the 321 it reported the previous day, as search and rescue teams continued to sift through the rubble and people already buried by relatives are accounted for.

Using satellite images of Lombok from the days following the Aug. 5 quake, scientists from NASA and the California Institute of Technology’s joint rapid imaging project made a ground deformation map and measured changes in the island’s surface.

In the northwest of the island near the epicenter, the rupturing faultline lifted the earth by a quarter of a meter. In other places it dropped by 5-15 centimeters (2-6 inches). – READ MORE </s> A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck near the Solomon Islands on Sunday morning, triggering a tsunami warning that was later cancelled, according to U.S. government agencies, and there were no immediate reports of damage.

The quake was centred 100 km (60 miles) south of Kira Kira on the island of Makira at a depth of 29 km (18 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"So far we have received no reports of damage," said Constable Taylor Fugo from Kira Kira police. "The people responded very well to the (tsunami) warning. They all went up the hills and have been watching and waiting for advice."

A tsunami warning for the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu was cancelled after only very small tsunami wave activity, just a couple of centimetres, had been measured at two reading stations near the epicentre, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

An earlier tsunami watch for Fiji, Australia, Indonesia and nearby areas was cancelled after the earthquake was revised down from its original magnitude of 8.3.

A series of aftershocks followed the quake, the strongest a magnitude 5.9, hit the region shortly afterwards, the USGS said.

The Solomon Islands straddles the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire," a highly seismically active zone where different plates on the earth's crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

A powerful 8.0 magnitude quake in 2013 in a similar area generated a local tsunami that killed at least five people. (Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Editing by David Gregorio and Lisa Shumaker) </s> A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.8 has struck just off the coast of Fiji, but it was centered far below the seabed, seismologists say. There is no threat of a tsunami.

The earthquake, which struck at 3:49 a.m. local time on Friday, was centered about 41 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Levuka on Fiji’s Ovalau island. It struck at a depth of 669 kilometers (415 miles).

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) put the preliminary magnitude at 7.8, which is down from an initial estimate of 8.1. It makes it the world’s third largest earthquake so far this year.

“Based on all available data, there is no tsunami threat because the earthquake is located too deep inside the Earth,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a bulletin. No tsunami warnings were issued.

The depth of the earthquake significantly reduced its impact. USGS computer models estimate that up to 924,000 people near the epicenter may have felt “weak” or “light” shaking. Serious damage is unlikely.

Friday’s tremor comes less than three weeks after an 8.2-magnitude earthquake struck far below the seabed near Fiji. That earthquake was further away from land but there were no reports of serious damage.

Fiji is on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin which is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. </s> WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A magnitude 6.6 earthquake has rattled the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea, a month after a deadly quake there killed more than 100 people.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from Monday's quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey said was centered in a remote area of East New Britain province.

USGS reported the quake had a depth of 40 kilometers (25 miles). Deeper earthquakes tend to cause less damage on the Earth's surface.

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake on Feb. 26 killed at least 125 people, injured dozens and brought work to a halt at four oil and gas fields.

Home to 7 million people, Papua New Guinea is located to the east of Indonesia and sits on the Pacific's "Ring of Fire." </s> A 7.9 magnitude earthquake has struck off the east coast of Papua New Guinea near the Solomon Islands.

The quake struck the Papua New Guinean island of Bougainville on the border with the Solomon Islands at around 4:30am local time at a depth of 131 miles.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned that waves of up to a metre above tide level could strike several coasts along the islands but it said the threat has now passed.

An additional warning was issued to Australia, Samoa, New Zealand, Indonesia, Tonga, New Caledonia and several smaller surrounding islands for smaller waves of up to 0.3 metres above tide level.

The size of the quake was also downgraded to 7.9 magnitude following initially reports of 8.0 and there were no reports of injury or damage.

The greatest tsunami threat had been to Bougainville and that threat had passed without any report of a tsunami, Chris McKee, the assistant director of the Papua New Guinea Geophysical Observatory, said.

"I suspect that because of the great depth of the earthquake, there was probably no significant tsunami," Mr McKee said. He added that the area in which the earthquake struck was sparsely populated.

Solomons government official George Herming said he was not aware of any major tremors being felt in his country or any tsunami.

The countries are located in the Pacific's geologically active "Ring of Fire" – where large amounts of seismic activity occurs due to friction between tectonic plates.

Loti Yates, the director of the Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office, said people had been told to move to higher ground in Choiseul and Western Province.

"That isn't the only fear we have," Yates told Reuters by phone from the capital of Honiara, adding that his office was trying to contact communities closest to the quake's epicentre. "We are also worried about damage from the earthquake."

Chris McKee, assistant director at PNG's Geophysical Observatory Office in Port Moresby, said there were no initial reports of damage from near the epicentre of the quake, which is sparsely populated.

"Because of the great depth of the earthquake it is unlikely that there will be any significant tsunami activity," McKee told Reuters.

Australia and New Zealand both said they had assessed the threat and there was no danger to their coastlines.

Bougainville Island is one of the islands that make up the Autonomous Region of Bougainville within Papua New Guinea(PNG) which is home to around 300,000 people.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes west of the Pacific Island of Tonga. There are no immediate reports of casualties or damage.