NEW YORK, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale jolted South of the Fiji Islands at 14:57:18 GMT on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 578.25 km, was initially determined to be at 24.8237 degrees south latitude and 178.4786 degrees east longitude.