A strong undersea earthquake was felt in Tonga, this evening at 6:10pm local time, with a tremor shaking houses in the capital for nearly two minutes.

The USGS recorded a 7.1 preliminary magnitude quake that was centred 195km (121 miles) ESE from Nuku'alofa at a depth of 33km (20.5 miles).

No damage has been reported at this time.

The Pacific Tsunami warning centre NOAA advised local governments that no destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data.

"However earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometres of the earthquake epicenter and authorities in the region of the epicenter should be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action," stated NOAA.

The quake was centred 355 km from Neiafu and 195km from Nuku'alofa.