France's Pacific island territory of New Caledonia will hold a second referendum on independence next year, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Friday.

Vanuatu has hit out at aid groups swarming the cyclone-ravaged Pacific nation over a lack of coordination, which it said cost precious time getting help to those in need, while warning food will run out in a week.

Relief agencies have been battling logistical challenges in the sprawling archipelago with a lack of landing strips and deep water ports hampering their efforts to reach distant islands and get a better grip on the full scale of the disaster.

A lawmaker pressing for New Caledonia to remain a French overseas territory participated for the first time Friday in a meeting of the United Nations Decolonization Committee.

Though it is technically part of France, the nickel-rich Pacific island chain formulates its own tax, labor laws and trade policy.

A strong, but deep, 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit off the Loyalty Islands in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Thursday but there was no tsunami alert, seismologists said.

The quake struck 397 kilometers (246 miles) east-northeast of the New Caledonia capital Noumea at a depth of 117 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

A fresh tropical cyclone has formed in the Pacific region and was gathering strength as it headed south towards New Caledonia and New Zealand, forecasters said Saturday.

A warning has gone out to all shipping in the path of Cyclone June to expect heavy swells and gale force winds.

The government of the Pacific paradise of New Caledonia said Wednesday it had decided to ban fishing of sharks, which are being decimated to feed growing demand for luxury goods.

"New Caledonia took the decision to ban the fishing, capture, detention or commercialization of all species of sharks" in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) -- an area roughly the size of South Africa, authorities in the French territory said.

A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck in the South Pacific near Vanuatu and New Caledonia's Loyalty Islands on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake struck at a depth of 32 kilometers at 07:09 GMT, around 60 kilometers northeast of Isangel in Vanuatu and 325 kilometers from Tadine in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, according to USGS.