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 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.
Meanwhile, the country is still facing a long road to recovery after the powerful earthquake that hit the nation’s rugged highlands more than 10 days ago, with the death toll now believed to have climbed to more than 100.
PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill flew over the worst-hit areas on Wednesday after a magnitude 6.7 aftershock struck the mountainous region already reeling from a 7.5 quake on Feb. 26. “Tragically, the Highlands Earthquake has already claimed the lives of an estimated more than 100 Papua New Guineans, with many more still missing and thousands of people injured,” O’Neill said in comments published by his office.
The Feb. 26 quake forced oil giant ExxonMobil Corp to shut all its gas facilities in the country, which it expects will be down for around eight weeks while it carries out inspections and repairs.
“There will be no quick fix. The damage from this disaster will take months and years to be repaired,” O’Neill said in Tari, the capital of Hela province.
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 "Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter ONeill (R) comforts a villager in Tari")
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