A strong earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale struck off south of the Pacific island nation of Fiji on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake, occurred at 09:20 a.m. Fiji local time (2120 GMT Tuesday), was 585 km south of Fiji's Ndoi Island. It was at a depth of 280 km.

No casualties or damages were reported so far.

No tsunami warning had been issued by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2009)