Strong quakes rattle Tonga, PNG: USGS

[beam me up scottie]

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A strong quake measuring 6.7 in magnitude rocked the South Pacific island nation of Tonga on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The New Britain region of Papua New Guinea was also shaken by a 6.2 magnitude quake, the USGS reported. It was unclear whether the tremors had caused any casualties or damage.

It said the Tonga quake hit at 4:36 p.m. local time (0336 GMT) 145 km (90 miles) northeast of the capital Nuku'alofa. The tremor was registered at a depth of 50 km (31 miles).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said the quake near Papua New Guinea's New Britain island hit at about 0326 GMT Sunday.

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-05-28T051227Z_01_SP119807_RTRUKOC_0_US-QUAKE-PACIFIC.xml