A magnitude 7.6 earthquake has caused widespread alarm in the Eastern New Guinea region of Papua New Guinea.
On Sunday, neighbors reported power outages and infrastructure damage, including to large buildings, residences, and highways.
There have been no reports of injuries, and authorities have yet to confirm damage to property.
Sunday’s 7.6 magnitude earthquake devastated the Eastern New Guinea region of Papua New Guinea.
According to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre, the earthquake was registered 80 kilometers below the surface.
After the earthquake, the US Geological Survey, a tsunami warning system, issued a tsunami warning, but later stated that the threat had gone.
However, it also state that “small sea level variations in some coastal regions” could still occur.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia is not immediately threatened by tsunamis.
Photographs of the quake in PNG depict rubble within homes (above), fractured roadways, and damaged structures.
Residents of Papua New Guinea shared images of damaged roads, buildings, and automobiles, as well as things falling from supermarket shelves, on the Internet.
People in Port Moresby, 480 kilometers from the earthquake’s epicenter, reported feeling its impacts.
“Of all the earthquakes I’ve experienced, I’ve never felt anything like this most recent one. One user stated on Volcano Discovery, “I can literally see the earth’s surface swaying like waves.”
“I am in the Modilon General Hospital, and the majority of patients who can walk or run have fled the building.” Impressed at how the medical staff stayed behind to attend to the immobile, gravely ill patients. Very unsettling experience,’ remarked another.
Another said, “Living in a two-story apartment, the shaking gave me the sensation that the structure could fall.”
The trembling was intense and powerful. I never felt something like it before. It seems almost as if the earth were floating on the water,’ wrote another.
Papua New Guinea is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire,” a hotspot for seismic activity caused by friction between tectonic plates.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the isolated mountainous highlands of Papua New Guinea, killing more than 100 people and destroying thousands of dwellings.