Quake Strikes Under Sea Near N. Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- A powerful earthquake struck under the Pacific Ocean near a remote and uninhabited New Zealand island on Wednesday, seismologists said. Officials said there was no threat of an ocean-wide tsunami.

A magnitude-6.5 temblor hit about 25 miles south of Raoul Island in the Kermadec group that lies within a marine park far north of New Zealand, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said "no destructive Pacific-wide tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data."