A magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook a remote part of Papua New Guinea on Friday but there were no immediate reports of damage or that the quake triggered a tsunami, REPORTED REUTERS. The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site (www.usgs.gov) that the quake's epicentre was about 60 km (40 miles) south of the town of Arawa on Bougainville island at a depth of 53.7 km. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake was unlikely to have triggered a major tsunami. "Based on all available data a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected," the centre said in a bulletin on its Web site (http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc). Papua New Guinea lies along the "Ring of Fire", a belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean that is also prone to major earthquakes.
