DHAKA: An earthquake struck late Saturday off Papua New Guinea’s eastern coast with a preliminary magnitude of 7.5.

The US Geological Survey said, reports CNN.

The quake struck at 11:27pm and occurred at a depth of 19 miles, the USGS said.

It was centered 47 miles southwest of Panguna, Papua New Guinea.

After the quake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Saturday’s incident is the latest in a series of seismic events in the region over the week.

They began with magnitude-7.1 and magnitude-6.5 earthquakes on April 11, just to the northeast and southeast, respectively.

Since then, 45 earthquakes of magnitude-4.5 or greater have occurred nearby.

Earthquakes with magnitudes between 7.0 and 7.9 are classified by USGS as ‘major’, second only to ‘great’, which are 8.0 and up.

BDST: 2115 HRS, APR 19, 2014