Magnitude 7.5 earthquake hits Papua New Guinea

May 14 (UPI) -- A powerful magnitude-7.5 earthquake rattled Papua New Guinea Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The USGS said the quake initially caused a tsunami threat in Hawaii, about 3,800 miles away. The warning was canceled a short time later.

The earthquake struck about 30 miles northeast of Kokopo at a depth of about 6 miles, officials said. There was little danger because that area is sparsely populated.

"The number of people living near areas that could have produced landslides in this earthquake is low, but landslide damage or fatalities are still possible in highly susceptible areas," the USGS said.

In the last century, there have been 36 other earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 7.0 in the area of Papua New Guinea, which is located about 120 miles north of Australia. A magnitude 8 earthquake in 2000 killed one person and displaced thousands.