Magnitude 7.5 Earthquake Causes Tsunami Warnings Off Papua New Guinea Coast

 A major earthquake struck off the coast of Papua New Guinea late Sunday, causing tsunami warnings in several Pacific nations. No damages or injuries have been reported from Sunday's quake. 

The U.S. Geological Survey reports that the 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck 33 miles off the coast of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea at 3:48 p.m. local time. Following the main earthquake, two smaller earthquakes ranging from 5.7 to 5.0 struck in the area.

The earthquake reportedly prompted a tsunami warning to take effect in Papua New Guinea and other Pacific nations, with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre suggesting that waves as high as nine feet could reach shore in some areas.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said in its statement that "hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 1,000 km of the earthquake epicentre along the coasts of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands".

By Monday, several areas had called off their tsunami warnings.

Mika Tuvi, a resident of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, told Al-Jazeera news that she felt the earthquake from a local hotel.

"The earthquake shook for about five minutes," she said.

Edward Leask, a duty seismologist at Geoscience Australia, told the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia's tsunami team was less concerned about the recent earthquake, as it was substantially smaller than the 9.1 quake that caused a tsunami in Australia in 2004.

"Obviously, this is on a much smaller scale [than the Boxing Day earthquake], so there's a bit less energy, which is why we're not worried for Australia. We don't feel that there is going to be much threat from that area, and we've got the Great Barrier Reef in the way as well to help slow it down," he said.