A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit off the Papua New Guinea coast early today, officials said, but there was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage
A handout photo taken on March 6, 2018 and received on March 7 from the International Federation of Red Cross shows earthquake damage in the Nipa-Kutuba district of the Southern Highlands in Papua New Guinea. Pic/ AFP
ADVERTISEMENT
A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit off the Papua New Guinea coast early today, officials said, but there was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage.
The quake struck at 3:39am local time at a depth of 15 kilometres about 20 kilometres offshore of the New Ireland town of Taron, the US Geological Survey said. A spokesman for the Port Moresby-based National Disaster Management Office said there were no immediate reports of damage but regional disaster management teams would carry out assessments later in the day.
"We've been in contact with the regional office and they are going out to check it," he told AFP. The epicentre was more than 800 kilometres east of the 7.5-magnitude quake that hit the highlands region of the Pacific nation on February 26, killing at least 67 people.
PNG sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a hotspot for seismic activity. Its mountainous and remote terrain means it often takes several days for information about damage from quakes to reach officials and aid agencies.
Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
