7.6-magnitude earthquake hits east Papua New Guinea: USGS
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Papua New Guinea on Sunday, with residents reporting damage to buildings near the town of Madang and further inland.
The USGS, which reported the quake, issued a tsunami warning but subsequently said the threat had “now passed”. However, she noted that some coastal areas could still experience “minor fluctuations in sea level”. Local residents in Madang who spoke to AFP said they felt “very strong tremors”.
There were reports of damage to buildings. The earthquake struck at a depth of 61 kilometers (38 miles), about 67 kilometers from the town of Kainantu, the USGS said. Papua New Guinea lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, which causes frequent earthquakes.
A strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Papua earlier Saturday, followed minutes later by two weaker tremors, the USGS said. The first two tremors — the second a magnitude 5.8 — struck at a relatively shallow depth of 15 kilometers, about 272 kilometers (169 miles) from the town of Abepura, according to the USGS.
A third earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 then hit the area at a depth of 32 kilometers. Authorities did not immediately report any casualties or damage, and no tsunami warnings accompanied the inland tremors. But Indonesia’s Meteorological and Geophysical Agency (BKMG) warned of slight shaking and potential light damage. He also told residents of nearby towns in his online advisory to “watch out for possible aftershocks.”
BKMG earthquake and tsunami coordinator Daryono, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP there were no immediate reports of damage from the area.
Citing agency modeling, the official said the tremors were felt lightly by residents of Sarmi, a coastal town of about 11,000 near the epicenter, and the neighboring Mamberamo area, home to about 36,000 people. Indonesia is one of the most endangered countries on Earth.
The country experiences frequent earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
The 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the island of Sulawesi in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless, turning buildings in the seaside town of Mamuju into a tangled mass of twisted metal and chunks of concrete.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Palu, Sulawesi killed more than 2,200 people and left thousands more missing. On December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake hit Aceh province, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia.
