The South Pacific island nation, Papua New Guinea, experienced a powerful earthquake on Friday, but there was no tsunami following, as well as no reports of damage or injuries so far.

The quake was measured at a magnitude of 6.8 and struck about 66 miles southwest of Kokopo, a town in north-eastern Papua New Guinea.

The quake was initially measured at 7.1. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported that it was possible that there would be dangerous tsunami waves within 186 miles of the earthquake's epicenter, but the risk passed shortly after this announcement was made, so the advisory was lifted.

Chris McKee, who is the assistant director of the Geophysical Observatory in the capital, Port Moresby, said that there were no reports of damages or injuries after the earthquake.

The area that is located nearest to the epicenter is not very heavily populated, so it is unlikely that the earthquake caused any structural damage. There were no reports of any tsunami sightings either.

The earthquake had a depth of about 37 miles, so observatory official Matthew Moihoi said that officials believed that the risk of a tsunami was not very high. Shallower earthquakes usually cause more structural damage and can more likely result in the generation of a tsunami wave.

Papua New Guinea is located directly on the Ring of Fire, which is an arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean. Earthquakes are a common occurrence there.

This takes place just a week after the powerful earthquake in Nepal. The quake killed more than 6,000 people in the region, but it has been said that life in Katmandu, the nation's capital is slowly going back to normal.