A 6.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded in Tongan waters at 12:34 this afternoon but it was not felt by residents in the capital Nuku'alofa or in the outer islands of Vava'u and Ha'apai.

The Tonga Geological office confirmed that the 6.0 magnitude quake was centred at 120km North East of Nuku'alofa, 200km south of Neiafu, Vava'u, but there were no reports of damages and no tsunami triggered.

Residents in the capital Nuku'alofa went about business as usual and did not feel the quake.

This was the same situation in Neiafu and Pangai after Matangi Tonga Online contacted police stations in both regional capitals, they confirmed that they too did not feel any shake from the quake and never realised there was one.

The National Disaster Management office in Nuku'alofa also confirmed they had not received any reports of any damage from Tongatapu or from any of the outer islands.

According to the USGS service the earthquake location was 20.440°S, 174.290°W, at a depth of 33.2 km (20.6 miles).