Washington, Aug 4 (DPA) A powerful earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Ritcher scale was registered Monday in Mexico's Gulf of California, bringing the possibility of high tsunami-type waves, the US-funded Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre reported.

The quake occurred at 1800 GMT at a depth of 15 km, inside the narrow body of water that separates Mexico's Baha peninsula from its mainland.

The tsunami centre said it did not have enough sea level gauges in the region of the Gulf to detect or measure a tsunami if one was generated.

Potentially destructive tsunami events usually follow within the first hour after an earthquake of this magnitude. The effect might be felt 'a few hundred kilometres' from the epicentre, the centre said.