Earthquake hits Papua New Guinea: Huge 6.0 magnitude quake rocks Ring of Fire
PAPUA New Guinea was rocked by a monstrous magnitude 6.0 earthquake in the morning hours today, sending intense shockwaves through the Ring of Fire Pacific Island.
By SEBASTIAN KETTLEY
Express.co.uk
Wed, May 9, 2018
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded the powerful tremors southwest of Papua New Guinea’s New East Britain island.
The earthquake struck at 7.57am UTC (8.57am BST) out in the Solomon Sea.
The epicentre was recorded at a distance of 177km south-southwest East New Britain’s capital town of Kokopo.
USGS earthquake trackers recorded the earthquake at a depth of 10km below sea level.
A USGS map of the earthquake shows shockwaves from the epicentre rippling out through the island provinces of East New Britain and West New Britain, just northeast of Papua’s main island.
So far there are no reports of casualties or damage on the Pacific island chain.
USGS earthquake shake maps suggest the intensity felt across the islands was relatively week on a scale of “Not Felt” to “Extreme”.
The US Tsunami Warning System similarly advised there is no tsunami waning, advisory watch or threat in effect at the moment.
According to the USGS, residential areas on the islands consist of a mix of “vulnerable and earthquake resistant construction”.
The predominantly vulnerable buildings are made of timber and unreinforced brick masonry.
Recent earthquakes in the ears have been known to cause devastating landslides which have caused severe damage in the past.
Papua New Guinea sits in the volatile Ring of Fire region, a chain of volcanoes and intense earthquake tremor zones along the rim of the Pacific Basin.
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