7.1-magnitude quake strikes Papua New Guinea: USGS

SYDNEY: A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said, but there was no widespread tsunami warning issued. The quake hit at a depth of 58 kilometres (36 miles) at 8.31 pm (1031 GMT), 65 kilometres west of Panguna town on Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville Island, and 642 kilometres west of Honiara in the Solomon Islands. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was “no destructive widespread tsunami threat” based on historical data. Quakes of such magnitude are common in poverty-stricken PNG, which sits on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates. In February the remote town of Lata in the Solomons was hit by a devastating tsunami after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake. The tsunami left at least 10 people dead, destroyed hundreds of homes and left thousands of people homeless. In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless