WEWAK, PAPUA NEW GUINEA (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck off the mainland of Papua New Guinea on late Monday morning, seismologists said, but no tsunami warnings were issued.

The 6.8-magnitude earthquake at 9.38 a.m. local time (2338 GMT Sunday) was centered about 131 kilometers (81 miles) east of Wewak, the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It struck about 16.8 kilometers (10.4 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data, and no tsunami alerts were issued. "However, earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometers (62 miles) of the earthquake epicenter," the center said in a bulletin.

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