Officials said Saturday a "small tsunami" was recorded after a strong earthquake struck off the east coast of Papua New Guinea the previous day, but no casualties or damage had been reported.
"We had information on a small tsunami, and that is the concern we have at the moment," Colonel Eric Ani, director of the National Disaster Management Office in Port Moresby, told AFP.
Communication with some remote areas was difficult, but there had been no reports of damage or injuries and "we are hopeful that that is it", Ani said.
A spokesman for the Volcano Observatory in Rabaul on the island of New Britain told AFP that tide gauges in Rabaul harbour had recorded "a small tsunami after the earthquake, with a maximum of 40 to 50 centimetres (16 to 20 inches) in height."
The surge had caused no damage in the harbour, he said.
The quake happened at 0735 GMT Friday around 130 kilometres (80 miles) southeast of Rabaul.
The government-run Geoscience Australia, which measured the quake at 7.3 on the Richter scale, said its epicentre was located around 95 kilometres (56 miles) below the earth's surface.
A spokesman told AFP Saturday that a small tsunami of the size described by the Volcano Observatory was unlikely to cause any damage or injuries. The depth of the earthquake meant that any wave it generated would be small, he said.
Hundreds of thousands of people were killed around Asia by huge tsunamis generated by a massive earthquake in Indonesia on December 26 last year.
Papua New Guinea sits on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
