Strong earthquake jolts Papua New Guinea's New Ireland

Strong earthquake jolts Papua New Guinea's New Ireland

2011-07-25 17:28:22 GMT+7 (ICT)

KAVIENG, PAPUA NEW GUINEA (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck an island of Papua New Guinea (P.N.G.) on late Monday morning, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The 6.2-magnitude earthquake at 10.50 a.m. local time (0050 GMT) was centered about 73 kilometers (46 miles) south of Kavieng, the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island with the same name. It struck about 34 kilometers (21 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The USGS estimated that around 1,000 people may have felt strong shaking, which could potentially result in light to moderate damage. Another 89,000 people were estimated to have felt light to moderate tremors.

However, earthquakes in the mountainous nation of New Papua Guinea do rarely cause damage or casualties as most structures in the region are light and flexible. This allows them to bend, rather than snap when a major earthquake happens.

Several minutes after the earthquake, at 10.59 a.m. local time (0059 GMT), an aftershock with a magnitude of 5.1 on the Richter scale rattled the same area, the USGS said.

Papua New Guinea, close to Indonesia, is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently.

In July 1998, a powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck just off the north coast of the country's island of New Guinea, causing a landslide which resulted in a local tsunami. The disaster left at least 2,183 people killed and thousands injured.

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