3 strong earthquakes strike in Pacific Ocean

? Three strong earthquakes struck Sunday near New Zealand and the U.S. territory of Guam in remote parts of the Pacific Ocean, monitoring agencies said.

None of the quakes caused a tsunami, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center or PTWC in Honolulu, Hawaii. There were also no reports of damages, as the quakes were centered far from land.

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake was registered near New Zealand’s uninhabited Auckland Islands, about 300 miles southwest of its southernmost city of Invercargill, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.

Another quake struck four hours later in the same region with a magnitude 6.6, the USGS said.

Earlier, a magnitude 7.1 quake shook the Pacific Ocean about 215 miles southeast of the island of Guam, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The USGS put the magnitude at 6.8.