Powerful earthquake strikes near towns in Papua New Guinea

[News_Editor]

Powerful earthquake strikes near towns in Papua New Guinea

2011-12-14 17:44:46 GMT+7 (ICT)

WAU, PAPUA NEW GUINEA (BNO NEWS) -- A powerful earthquake rocked the Oceanian country of Papua New Guinea on late Wednesday afternoon, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The 7.1-magnitude earthquake at 3.04 p.m. local time (0504 GMT) was centered about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south-southeast of Wau, a small town in the province of Morobe on the eastern part of the country's New Guinea island. It struck about 121.2 kilometers (75.3 miles) deep, making it a fairly deep earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The agency estimated that some 506,000 people near the epicenter may have felt strong shaking, while up to 3 million others may have felt light to moderate shaking. 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.

Residents in Port Moresby, which is located about 221 kilometers (137 miles) south-southeast of Wednesday's epicenter, reported feeling the earthquake and said it continued for about a minute. Officials said they had no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

Because the earthquake struck fairly deep and on land, no tsunami warnings were issued. "A destructive tsunami was not generated based on earthquake and historical tsunami data," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a bulletin.

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 more injured.

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