Port Moresby: An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck the Eastern New Guinea region in Papua New Guinea on Sunday, with locals reporting damage to buildings near the coastal town of Madang and further inland.

The quake was at a depth of 80 km (49.7 miles) the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.

The US Geological Survey, which reported the quake, issued a tsunami warning but subsequently said the threat “has now passed”.

It did, however, note that there could still be “minor sea level fluctuations in some coastal areas”.

The quake struck at a depth of 61 kilometres (38 miles), about 67 kilometres from the town of Kainantu, the USGS said.

Papua New Guinea sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, causing it to experience frequent earthquakes.

According to international news agency AFP, power outages and damage to buildings were reported in parts of Papua New Guinea, with shaking felt widely in the country from towns near the epicentre to the capital of Port Moresby, about 300 miles (480 kilometres) away.

Locals in Lae and Madang, closest to the epicentre, told the agency the shaking was much more vigorous than previous quakes.

“Very strong, everything was like sitting on a sea — just floating,” Hivi Apokore, a worker at Jais Aben Resort near Madang, said.