Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

6.3-magnitude quake hits Papua New Guinea

A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea on Saturday, US seismologists said, but there was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage.

An undated handout photo received on March 5 from Oil Search Limited shows damage to Oil Search’s Iagifu Ridge Camp in Papua New Guinea. Some 67 people were killed by a major earthquake that devastated Papua New Guinea’s remote highlands last week, the Red Cross said Monday, with thousands displaced from their homes from landslides. The fallout is compounded by the suspension of the impoverished country’s biggest-ever development — the PNG LNG project operated by US energy giant ExxonMobil — as the quake-hit facilities undergo repairs for eight weeks. / AFP PHOTO / EXXONMOBIL PNG / –

A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea on Saturday, US seismologists said, but there was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage.

The quake struck at 9:23pm local time (1123 GMT) at a depth of 67 kilometres (41 miles), about 175 kilometres from the New Britain town of Rabaul, the US Geological Survey said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake did not pose a tsunami risk.

The Pacific nation was hit by a 7.5-magnitude quake on February 26 that buried homes and triggered landslides in its highlands region, killing at least 125 people.

PNG sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates.

Its mountainous and remote terrain means it often takes several days for information about damage from quakes to reach officials and aid agencies.

In this article

0 Comments