A strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck off Tonga and Samoa on Sunday afternoon but there was no tsunami alert.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at 4.39pm local time about 237 kilometres south-west of the Samoan capital Apia, at a depth of 41km.
Nine people died last September when a tsunami hit the northern Tongan island of Niuatoputapu following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake reports the ABC.
The tsunami also killed 143 people in Samoa and another 34 in neighbouring American Samoa.
