A strong earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale jolted the areas near Kermadec Islands in the Pacific Ocean at 0637 GMT Tuesday, the Hong Kong Observatory said in a news bulletin here Tuesday afternoon.

The epicenter was immediately determined by the Hong Kong Observatory to be at 31.1 degrees south latitude and 177 degrees west longitude, or 1,000 kilometers northeast of Auckland, New Zealand.

The depth of the earthquake was 35 km, according to the US Geological Survey.

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2008)