SYDNEY, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake has struck 96 km south-west of Mendi, in the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on Monday.

The earthquake, which occurred at 1744 GMT Sunday, was determined to be at 6.149 degrees south latitude and 142.766 degrees east longitude at a depth of 35 km.

At this stage there have been no fatalities reported in the township of around 50,000 people, however Don Blakeman from the U.S. Geological Survey told media that significant damage was very likely.

"Any geologic situation like steep valleys or any type of construction, buildings, mines, that sort of thing, since this is a shallow earthquake it shakes all of that a lot more," he said.

"Landslides are a lot more common and should be expected."

No tsunami warning has been issued at this time.