Strong earthquakes in the South Pacific only cause small tsunamis

A powerful 7.4 Richter earthquake occurred off the coast of southern Papua New Guinea, causing officials to issue a tsunami warning within 300 km. However, only local tsunami appears and is less than 1 m high.

Strong earthquake in the South Pacific

The earthquake occurred at 1:40 GMT on May 5 in the area 133 km south of southwestern Kokopo town, New Britain. The epicenter was located at a depth of 63 km, AFP quoted the US Geological Survey (USGS) as saying. A strong magnitude of 5.9 Richter occurred immediately after that.

The epicenter location.(Graphic: My Forecast.)

An estimated tsunami of less than 1 meter appeared at the port of Rabaul, AP quoted Chris McKee, assistant director at the Geophysical Monitoring Station in the capital Port Moresby, said.Floods do not occur because tsunamis do not exceed normal high tide.

The original Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said, "dangerous tsunamis can occur at coasts within 300 km of the epicenter" , including the Indonesian and Australian coasts but later given know this risk is not great.

" We do not anticipate a particularly catastrophic impact , " Barry Hirshorn, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, told Sky News. The largest wave is also only " about 1 m" high.

The earthquake left the Rabaul area out of power.There is information about damaged architecture in Kokopo like cracked walls but no people were injured. According to McKee, in addition to Rabaul, unusual waves do not appear elsewhere. The threats are at least as high as 30 cm high waves.

According to Matthew Moihoi, seismologist at PNG Geophysical Observatory, the earthquake has been in a series of geological activities in the region in recent weeks but has not caused great damage to infrastructure. " Some items fall off the shelf ," he said.

Annette Sete, living in Kokopo, said recently there have been many shocks but "this earthquake is big". " School is closed, children are taken home, objects in some houses are turned upside down. Power lines are broken, fallen trees have not yet had information of casualties, " Ms Sete described.

Zenia Lopez, an employee at Kokopo Village Resort, recounted how she and her colleagues had fled when the earthquake struck."It's scary, we all ran out but this place is fine, there is no damage , " Lopez said.

Estimated path of tsunami.(Photo: Radio World)

New Britain, the largest island in the Bismarck archipelago, is the eastern mainland of Papa New Guinea with a population of about half a million people. The island is located on a 4,000 km Australian-Pacific plate, forming part of the " Ring of Fire ". This is a hot spot in geological activity due to friction between tectonic plates.