A powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck a distant a part of Papua New Guinea on Friday, however there have been no speedy reports of casualties or major damage.
The epicentre of the 79.8km deep quake was near Morobe Patrol Post and shaking was felt within the capital Port Moresby.
Locals stated they felt the tremor, however that it was not severe and images uploaded to social media show a wharf cracked in two.
The depth of the earthquake may clarify the low surface damage as a result of shallower quakes typically trigger extra harm, according to the US Geological Survey.
“But large intermediate-depth earthquakes may be felt at great distances from their epicentres,” the US government agency added.
A tsunami warning was initially issued for coastal regions, however the hazard has since passed.
Charley Masange, the Morobe Provincial Disaster Office director, stated he didn’t anticipate to receive reports of damage till Saturday.
The epicentre is in the mountains,” he stated. “Not many people live there and it’s very remote so it takes a long time to get information. I’m not anticipating main harm.”
Papua New Guinea experiences a excessive charge of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, with 64 quakes of a magnitude of 6.0 or larger – eight of which have been 7.0 or larger – hitting inside 250km of Friday’s event in the past 50 years.
The island nation lies along the “Ring of Fire”, a significant space within the basin of the Pacific Ocean where a lot of the world’s seismic activity happens.
