The US Geological service reported a 7.9 earthquake just before midnight in the New Ireland region of Papua New Guinea's east.

The quake was 103.2km deep.

The New Zealand Civil Defence earlier issued an official tsunami warning for all of New Zealand following the earthquake, but cancelled it half an hour later, saying there was no threat to New Zealand.



</s>SYDNEY (Reuters) - People living along Papua New Guinea’s coastline fled to higher ground on Saturday after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck east of the Pacific nation, triggering a tsunami warning for parts of its archipelago.

A couple of hours after the quake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said the threat had largely passed, although it said government agencies should continue to monitor coastal tides.

“Based on all available data ... the tsunami threat from this earthquake has now passed,” the PTWC said in an updated and final alert after the quake, which struck 157 km (98 miles) east of Rabaul.

The major tremor initially triggered a more widespread tsunami warning for the Pacific region, including Indonesia and the Solomon Islands, but that was pulled back after the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) downgraded the magnitude slightly from 8. It also revised the depth of the tremor to 103.2 km from its original estimate of 73 kms.

Many residents in the northern parts of the autonomous region of Bougainville sought higher ground amid warnings that tsunami waves were possible.

“The town residents have vacated the whole place; those in the villages live higher up, so they’re ok, it’s just those near the coast,” local resident Christabel Biasu told Reuters by phone.

Quakes are common in Papua New Guinea, which sits on the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire”, a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties after Saturday’s major tremor.

A nurse at Buka General Hospital in Bougainville said the quake was so strong it felt like the building she was sleeping in would topple. She said patients were being moved a few kilometers to higher ground.

“We have about 16 beds,” she told Reuters by phone, declining to give her name. “Most of them are already a suburb up.”

The small Pacific nation of Nauru, where one of Australia’s offshore immigration detention centers is located, had a tsunami warning in place, according to the official government Twitter account.

Related Coverage New Zealand issues tsunami warning after quake off Papua New Guinea

Residents in other parts of Papua New Guinea, including the capital of Port Moresby and Kavieng in the northern tip of New Ireland island, said they had not felt the quake, and no evacuation plans were in place.

New Zealand also canceled an earlier tsunami warning.</s>A magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck 157 km (98 miles) east of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, prompting a warning about tsunami waves in the region.

"Widespread hazardous tsunami waves are possible," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said in a message following the quake, which struck the New Ireland region of Papua New Guinea at a depth of 73 km.

The PTWC said tsunami waves were possible in the next three hours along some coasts of not only Papua New Guinea but also Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Nauru, Kosrae and Vanuatu.</s>An earthquake measuring 7.9 has rocked the Pacific Ocean sparking widespread warnings that a deadly tsunami could hit Papua New Guinea.

Scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a statement claiming giant waves of up to 3 metres are possible.

The quake struck 157km to the east of Rabaul this morning at 10.51UTC or GMT at a depth of 64 miles, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The quake was was initially reported as 8.0 before being downgraded to 7.9.

The USGS classifies a magnitude 7.9 earthquake as a major earthquake with the possibility of serious damage.

The New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence at first said the warning extended to parts of the New Zealand coastline and told people to stay off the beaches.

But officials then cancelled the warning after their tsunami expert determined there was no threat to New Zealand.

A tsunami threat to Hawaii is reportedly still being evaluated.

The New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence tweeted: "We are cancelling the tsunami threat for NZ issued earlier this morning after the mag 8 eq in Papua New Guinea at 11.51pm

"The tsunami expert panel has assessed the mag 8 PNG earthquake and determined there is no threat to NZ. The threat is being cancelled."

Island Papua New Guinea sits in the Pacific Ocean and has 7.3 million inhabitants.

In 1998 over 2,000 people were killed when a 7.0 earthquake sparked 50ft waves that caused widespread destruction on the island.

British tourists visit the country to witness its immense cultural and biological diversity from beaches to rainforests.

Last weekend a 7.7magnitude earthquake struck near to the neighbouring Solomon Islands just over 1,000 miles away.

It initially sparked threats of a tsunami for the next three-hours as far as Hawaii before the warning was called off.</s>"Tsunami waves have been observed," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said, warning that waves reaching one to three meters above the tide level were possible along some of Papua New Guinea's coastlines. It said any tsunami waves would hit within the next two hours.

The PTWC canceled an earlier tsunami warning that encompassed Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Nauru, Kosrae and Vanuatu after the quake, which struck the New Ireland region of Papua New Guinea at a depth of 103.2 km.

Any tsunami waves in countries other than Papua New Guinea were forecast to be less than 0.3 meters, the PTWC said.

New Zealand also canceled an earlier tsunami warning, while Hawaii and Australia said there was no threat to their coastlines.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which the USGS initially measured at magnitude 8 and at a depth of 73 kms.

Quakes are common in Papua New Guinea, which sits on the Pacific's "Ring of Fire," a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates. (Reporting by Jane Wardell and Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)</s>Tsunami warnings were issued for several nations today after a major 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and the US Geological Survey said.

The PTWC said hazardous tsunami waves could hit coastal areas of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nauru, and the Solomon Islands, while New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defence issued a warning for all of the country’s coast.

The earthquake struck 60 km to the east of Taron, New Ireland, at 8.51 pm local time (1051 GMT) at a depth of some 75 km, the USGS said.

The quake was originally recorded at 8.0 before being revised down to 7.9.

“Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking…Some casualties and damage are possible,” the USGS said on its website as it issued a yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities and losses.

Quakes are common near Papua New Guinea, which lies on the 4,000-kilometre-long Pacific Australia plate, which forms part of the “Ring of Fire”, a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates.

In 2013 the neighbouring Solomon Islands were hit by a devastating tsunami after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake rattled the region. That tsunami left at least 10 people dead, destroyed hundreds of homes and left thousands of people homeless.</s>SYDNEY (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Papua New Guinea on Saturday, generating a small tsunami and knocking out power in parts of the Pacific island nation. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The magnitude-7.9 quake struck 46 kilometers (29 miles) east of Taron in Papua New Guinea, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was deep, at 103 kilometers (61 miles). Deeper earthquakes tend to cause less damage than shallow ones.

The USGS initially said the quake’s magnitude was 8.0, but later downgraded the strength.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a threat of a tsunami in Papua New Guinea and nearby areas. It said tsunami waves reaching 1-3 meters (yards) high were possible along the coasts of Papua New Guinea, while waves in other areas, including the Solomon Islands, would likely be less than 0.3 meter (1 foot) high.

A tsunami measuring less than 1 meter (3 feet) hit the coast of the island of New Ireland shortly after the earthquake, said Felix Taranu, seismologist with the Geophysical Observatory in the capital, Port Moresby. There were no immediate reports of damage from the tsunami or the quake, though officials were still working to contact people on the island, he said.

The quake knocked items off shelves and caused a blackout in the town of Kokopo in northeastern Papua New Guinea, Taranu said. But there were no reports of widespread damage in the town.

Papua New Guinea sits on the Ring of Fire, the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes are common.</s>A major 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but no immediate casualties were reported and an initial tsunami threat was later deemed to have passed.

The earthquake struck 60 km to the east of Taron, New Ireland, at 8.51 pm local time (4.21 p.m. IST) at a depth of some 75 km, the USGS said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre initially warned hazardous waves could hit coastal areas of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nauru, the Solomon Islands and others.

But two hours after the quake, the PTWC said the threat had passed, despite some tsunami waves having been observed.

New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence also briefly issued a tsunami warning for all of the country's coast.

“Large #earthquake in PNG. Our team reports that people moving to higher ground in some areas due to #tsunami potential," Oxfam in the Pacific tweeted.

But Geoscience Australia seismologist Dan Jaksa downplayed the severity of the quake, noting its depth made the likelihood of a tsunami "low".

"This region of PNG is also pretty remote and very, very sparsely populated," he added.

"There would definitely have been shaking, in fact we logged it as shaking felt as much as 3,400 kilometres away, which would include population centres like Rabaul (on Papua New Guinea's New Britain island).

"But it was far enough away for the shaking to not be strong."

The USGS said on its website that "some casualties and damage are possible and the impact should be relatively localized."

Several aftershocks struck the area, the USGS said, the largest of which was a 6.3-magnitude quake.

Earthquakes are common near Papua New Guinea, which lies on the 4,000-kilometre-long Pacific Australia plate, which forms part of the "Ring of Fire", a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates.

In 2013 the neighbouring Solomon Islands were hit by a devastating tsunami after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake rattled the region. That tsunami left at least 10 people dead, destroyed hundreds of homes and left thousands of people homeless.</s>The quake struck in the ocean about 45 kilometers east of Papua New Guinea's New Ireland island, also known as Latangai, at about 8:51 p.m. (5:51 a.m. ET), the US Geological Survey said.

Hazardous tsunamis are possible though about midnight local time along some coasts of that country, as well as the Solomon Islands, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Indonesia, Nauru, Kosrae and Vanuatu, the PTWC said.

"No evacuations are necessary at this stage," added the MCDEM in another tweet. "However, please stay out of the water and off the beaches following this evening's tsunami threat."

Papua New Guinea is along the "Ring of Fire," a zone of seismic activity and volcanoes around the edges of the Pacific Ocean. It's a vast area where about 90% of the world's earthquakes occur, according to the USGS. The ring, which actually is shaped more like a horseshoe, includes more than 400 underwater volcanoes and stretches 25,000 miles from New Zealand, past Japan, across the Bering Strait and down to the tip of South America. Tremors in this part of the world are fairly common, and earlier this month a magnitude-7.8 earthquake also hit close to the Solomon Islands. That December 9 earthquake was "one of the biggest and longest I have ever felt," said Tali Hong, who has lived in the capital Honiara his entire life. However, the largest observed wave from that quake, according to sea level gauges, was only 0.12 meters (5 inches) near Honiara on the island of Guadalcanal, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) northwest of the epicenter.</s>SYDNEY (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea on Saturday, and a tsunami threat was issued to areas near the epicenter. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The magnitude-7.9 quake struck 46 kilometers (29 miles) east of Taron in Papua New Guinea, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was deep, at 103 kilometers (61 miles). Deeper earthquakes tend to cause less damage than shallow ones.

The USGS initially said the quake’s magnitude was 8.0, but later downgraded the strength.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a threat of a tsunami in Papua New Guinea and nearby areas. It said tsunami waves reaching 1-3 meters (yards) high were possible along the coasts of Papua New Guinea, while waves in other areas, including the Solomon Islands, would likely be less than 0.3 meter (1 foot) high.

The quake rattled residents near the epicenter on the island of New Ireland, but was not felt in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, said Mathew Moihoi, an official with the Geophysical Observatory. There were no immediate reports of damage, though officials were still assessing the situation, he said.

Papua New Guinea sits on the Ring of Fire, the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes are common.
Tsunami warnings are issued for the Pacific region, including Indonesia and the Solomon Islands, following a 7.9 magnitude earthquake east of Papua New Guinea. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later reports the threat has largely passed.