NUKU'ALOFA – A moderate earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 struck near northern Tonga Thursday, seismologists said.

There were no early reports of damage after the earthquake hit at 12:56 p.m. (2356 GMT Wednesday).

The quake was centered 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of the Tongan island of Niuatoputapu at a depth of 10 kilometers, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Nine people died late last month on Niuatoputapu in a tsunami triggered by an 8.0 magnitude earthquake. The tsunami also killed 143 people in Samoa and another 34 in neighboring American Samoa.