An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale jolted the seawaters near the southeastern coast of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, at 4:11 AM Hong Kong time Tuesday.

According to the Hong Kong Observatory Tuesday, the epicenter was initially determined to be 4.5 south latitude and 153.1 east longitude, about 110 kilometers east-southeast of Rabaul.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2005)