SUVA, Fiji – A powerful earthquake struck deep under the South Pacific near Fiji Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it did not expect the quake, which struck 360 miles below the earth's surface, to trigger a damaging Pacific-wide tsunami.
The 7.1-magnitude temblor hit at 5:13 p.m. EST about 60 miles north-northeast of the remote Fijian island of Ndoi, the geological survey said.
Lasarusa Veutibau, a seismologist at Fiji's Mines and Resources Department, said the quake was too deep to have been felt anywhere in the Fiji islands.
Fiji is regularly hit by earthquakes as its 332 islands sit in an active seismic area in the South Pacific. About 110 of the islands are inhabited.
Fiji, a nation of 869,000, lies about 2,200 miles east of Australia.
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