SYDNEY: A powerful undersea earthquake measuring a magnitude 7.1 struck near New Caledonia in the South Pacific on Wednesday, creating small tsunami waves, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
The quake struck at a shallow depth of 10 km (six miles) some 372 km (230 miles) east of the New Caledonian capital Noumea.
It was initially reported as magnitude 7.
The center said there was no Pacific-wide tsunami threat but added that waves 17 cm (7 inches) high reached the shores of the Loyalty Islands, 250 km (155 miles) east of the epicentre.
No damage was reported.
"We felt it and they felt it more strongly on the Loyalty Islands," Civil Defense spokesman Olivier Ciry told Reuters by phone from Noumea.
"But there is nothing to say. There is no damage, no tsunami and we don't expect anything else," he said.