Strong earthquake off Papua New Guinea, tsunami warning issued

Papua New Guinea has issued a local tsunami warning after a strong earthquake struck off its coast this morning. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, following a quake in the Solomon Islands earlier in the day.

The 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck at 4:37 a.m. local time, 122 kilometers west of Arawa, the capital of Bougainville province, at a depth of 43 kilometers, the US Geological Survey said.

Papua New Guinea lies on the Ring of Fire, where earthquakes occur frequently.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a large-scale, destructive tsunami, but the US Geological Survey said an earthquake of this magnitude could trigger a tsunami along coastlines within 100km of the epicenter.

According to Mr. Bill Yomba, an official of the Papua New Guinea National Disaster Center, there is currently no news of damage after this strong earthquake.

Meanwhile, the Beijing Earthquake Networks Center said that early this morning, at 2:37 a.m. (Beijing time), a magnitude 6.3 earthquake shook the Solomon Islands. The earthquake had an epicenter at a depth of 40km.

According to Dan Tri