Earthquake shakes Papua New Guinea

Last updated at 16:19 09 September 2005


A major earthquake measuring 7.3 in magnitude shook parts of Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific today, but there were no immediate reports of damage and a tsunami was unlikely, officials said.

However, efforts to contact residents in remote areas near the quake were being hindered by poor communication lines, a spokesman for Papua New Guinea's National Disaster and Emergency Services said.

The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 7.35am UK time, was off the east coast of New Britain province, about 130 km (80 miles) east-southeast of Rabaul, the Hong Kong Observatory said.

"No damage has been reported at this point in time to the US Geological Survey," US Geological Survey spokeswoman spokesman Clarice Ransom said.

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a Pacific-wide tsunami from the quake, which Geoscience Australia said occurred at a depth of 95 km (60 miles).

"No destructive Pacific-wide tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said on its website, www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/bulletins.htm.

But it said earthquakes of this size sometimes

generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometres of the earthquake epicentre.

"Authorities in the region of the epicenter should be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action," it said.

Between 10,000 and 20,000 people live in and around Rabaul.

Papua New Guinea lies to the east of Indonesia, which bore the brunt of the 9.15 magnitude quake and tsunami on December 26.

Seismically active, Papua New Guinea also lies on "the Ring of Fire", a zone of volcanic activity which accounts for 75 percent of the world's active and dormant volcanoes.

Rabaul, on New Britain island, was destroyed in the September 1994 eruption of Tuvurvur volcano.

In July 1998, two undersea quakes measuring 7.0 created three tsunamis that killed at least 2,100 near the town of Aitape on the north coast of Papua New Guinea.

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