A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) New Britain island yesterday, initially triggering a tsunami warning for surrounding coastlines, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The shallow quake struck close to the coast, about 162 km southwest of Rabaul, a much more remote region than the country’s mountainous mainland highlands, where a magnitude 7.5 tremor struck on Feb. 26, killing 100 people.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a threat warning for PNG’s coastline located within 300km of the quake’s epicenter, but later advised that the threat had passed.
Dellie Minding, a receptionist at the Rabaul Hotel in the east of New Britain, about 20 minutes from the coast, said that the earthquake was felt, with many guests running outside, but there was no damage.
At the Rapopo Plantation Resort on the coast, receptionist May Dovon said she had not heard of any casualties or damage.
“We felt the earthquake, everything was moving so we went out of the building,” Dovon said. “Nothing was damaged.”
Australian authorities said there was no threat to the Australian coastline from the quake, which was initially reported as a magnitude 7.2.
Quakes are common in PNG, which sits on the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire,” a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates. Rabaul lies in the shadow of Mount Tavurvur, an active volcano that destroyed the town in 1994 during a severe eruption.
The latest quake came as PNG struggles to get aid to survivors of the Feb. 26 quake, which flattened whole villages and spoiled water supplies on the country’s main island.
The impoverished country is also missing its largest revenue earner since the quake forced a shutdown of Exxon Mobil Corp’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which has annual sales of $3 billion at current LNG prices. The company is still assessing quake damage at its facilities.
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