The US Geological Survey has detected a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northeastern Papua New Guinea.?

The quake hit at 6:46 am. Initial readings put the quake at a depth of some 50 to 60 kilometers (30 to 40 miles) located 67 kilometers (42 miles) east of Kainantu, a sparsely populated area.?

NOAA has since removed the tsunami threat for the area.

Papua New Guinea is located on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, to the east of Indonesia and north of eastern Australia.

It sits on the Pacific's “Ring of Fire,” the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where much of the world's earthquakes and volcanic activity occurs.

(Inputs from PTI)