Papua New Guinea, a country in the south-western Pacific known for its cultural and biological diversity, has been stuck by a major earthquake measuring 8.0 magnitude on Sunday (January 22), the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake has triggered a tsunami warning with countries near the epicentre likely to be affected.
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The earthquake was measured to be 47km west of Arawa on the north coast of Bougainville island at a depth of 154km at 3:30pm local time (0430 GMT), the USGS added.
"The January 22nd, 2017, M 7.9 earthquake west of Panguna, Papua New Guinea, occurred as the result of reverse faulting at an intermediate depth (~150 km) beneath the island of Bougainville (North Solomons)," said a post on the USGS's website.
"The location, depth and focal mechanism solution indicate the earthquake occurred as a result of intraplate faulting within the subducting lithosphere of the Australia plate (Solomon Sea microplate), rather than on the overlying plate interface," it added.
It also noted that such earthquakes cause less damage on the ground surface above.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has warned of the possibility of the coastal areas of Pacific countries like Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nauru, Vanuatu, Chuuk, the Solomon Islands and others being hit by dangerous waves in the next three hours. The coastal areas of these places could be hit by waves as high as 0.3 to one meter above the tidal level.
Papua New Guinea sits on a hotspot for seismic activity in what is called the Pacific's "Ring of Fire" and quakes are common in the country, report noted.
There have been no reports of damage from the epicentre, however, since the place is vey sparsely populated.
"Because of the depth of the great depth of the earthquake, it is unlikely that there will be any significant tsunami activity," Chris McKee, assistant director at PNG's Geophysical Observatory Office in Port Moresby, told Reuters.
