7.9 quake shakes PNG, tsunami alert rescinded

The tsunami warning for the Pacific island nation and its neighbours was later cancelled. The tremor struck 40 kilometres west of Panguna on Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville island at a depth of 153 kilometres at 3.30 pm local time, the US Geological Survey said.

Earthquakes are common near Papua New Guinea, which lies on the 4,000-kilometre-long Pacific Australia plate. It forms part of the ‘Ring of Fire’, a hotspot for seismic activity. In 2013 the Solomon Islands were hit by a devastating tsunami after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake rattled the region.