Tuesday, December 13 2005 14:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Suva (Fiji): Two powerful undersea earthquakes struck within seconds near Fiji today (Dec 13, 2005), geologists said, and officials issue a tsunami alert for the local area.

No damage or injuries were immediately reported. The first quake, with a magnitude of 6.3, occurred at 3:16 pm (0846 GMT) about 255 kilometers northeast of Vanua Levu the main tourist spot in Fiji's chain of islands, at a depth of 29 kilometers, the US Geological Survey reported.

Seconds later, a magnitude 6.8 aftershock struck nearby, about 760 kilometers west of Apia, the capital of neighbouring Samoa, the survey said. The second quake was much deeper, at 166 kilometers beneath the ocean floor.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a bulletin that said there was no Pacific-wide threat of a destructive tsunami, but that quakes of the size measured today could cause damaging local tsunamis.