(Port Moresby) A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Papua New Guinea on Sunday, causing damage to buildings near the coastal town of Madang and in the interior of the country, residents said.
Posted at 10:50 p.m.
The United States Institute of Geological Surveys (USGS), which had initially issued a tsunami warning, quickly lifted it. The USGS, however, reported that there may be “minor sea level fluctuations in some coastal areas.”
Power cuts and damage to buildings were reported in different parts of the country.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 61 kilometers, about 67 kilometers from the city of Kainantu, the USGS said.
But the tremor was felt across the country, from towns near the epicenter to the capital Port Moresby, nearly 500km away.
Footage from a university in Goroka, a town in the eastern mountains, shows large cracks in the walls.
Residents of Madang and Lae, towns near the epicenter, told AFP that the tremor was particularly strong.
“Very strong, everything was like sitting on a sea, just floating,” said Hivi Apokore, who works at a tourist facility, Jais Aben Resort, near Madang.
Papua New Guinea, which includes the eastern part of the island of New Guinea and many other islands, lies on the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, which is a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates.
In February 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the country’s rugged highlands region, triggering landslides, burying homes and killing at least 125 people.
On Saturday, a series of earthquakes hit the Indonesian province of Papua, located on the western part of the island of New Guinea, without causing any casualties or damage.
In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake in Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 people in the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.