Port Moresby: A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Papua New Guinea’s New Britain Island on Saturday morning, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The shallow quake, which occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres (6 miles), initially prompted a tsunami warning, but this was later downgraded by the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.

"Based on all available data, the tsunami threat from this earthquake has now passed," the centre said, noting that "no tsunami was observed" at the nearest monitoring station.

The earthquake hit at 6:04 am local time (2004 GMT), with its epicentre located approximately 194 kilometres (120 miles) southeast of Kimbe, the nearest major town.

Marolyn Simbiken, a receptionist at Kimbe’s Liamo Reef Resort, reported that no damage had been seen so far. "We did feel the earthquake here," she told AFP, "but there’s not big damage. Nothing was damaged here and there was no evacuation."

Barbara Aibilo, a worker at Walindi Plantation Resort, described feeling a "slight shake" during the tremor.

Following the initial quake, several smaller aftershocks, with preliminary magnitudes ranging from 4.9 to 5.3, were recorded in the same area, according to the USGS.

While earthquakes are common in Papua New Guinea, which sits on the seismic "Ring of Fire"—an area known for intense tectonic activity stretching through Southeast Asia and the Pacific—such events rarely cause widespread damage in the sparsely populated regions. However, they can trigger destructive landslides.