Moderate quake strikes off northern Tonga: USGS

A moderate earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 struck near northern Tonga today,
seismologists said. There were no early reports of damage after the earthquake hit at 12:56 pm (0520 IST Thursday).

The quake was centred 50km northeast of the Tongan island of Niuatoputapu at a depth of 10km, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Nine people died late last month on Niuatoputapu in a tsunami triggered by an 8.0 magnitude earthquake. The tsunami also killed 143 people in Samoa and another 34 in
neighbouring American Samoa.