NEWS: 7.3 earthquake - New Guinea

The largest earthquake for a number of weeks worldwide has just occured in the New Ireland region of Papua New Guinea, over 2000 miles north of Queensland Australia. The quake has measured 7.3 on the richter scale from first reports. It is unknown at this stage of damage or fatalities. The quake was registered at over 5 miles deep and was a horizontal plate slide.



This is the largest earthquake in recent weeks and co - incides with solar flares hitting the Earths atmosphere at present. This particular ridge has not felt any large quakes recently and although many "quake watch" readers were expecting a large one in the next few days, we did not expect it in this particular area.

It is unknown whether more large quakes are expected but some people do expect more to come in the following week or so.

Updates to follow.

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

the above map shows just how big the quake is in comparison to recent quakes and exactly where it was.

Update, the first reports are just now hitting the feeds. No reports from the scene as yet and no damage reports.

A 7.3 magnitude quake struck the New Ireland region of Papua New Guinea, the US Geological Survey reported.

"No damage has been reported at this point in time to the US Geological Survey," agency spokeswoman spokesman Clarice Ransom said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said no destructive Pacific wide tsunami threat was expected as a result of the PNG quake.
SMH.com.au

a small quake registered in Japan less than an hour after the PNG quake.

Gadsdentimes
BBC
The Guardian UK
CNN

[edit on 9-9-2005 by Mayet]

SMH.com.au
A 7.3 magnitude earthquake has struck deep beneath the sea off the southern coast of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea.

The epicentre was estimated to be about 120km deep, between New Ireland and the island of Buka in northern Bougainville, the observatory's assistant director Ima Itikarai said.

Itikarai said he and his staff felt the slow rocking quake in Rabaul for three to four minutes

t was difficult to say if residents of small islands in the Feni and Green groups closest to the quake's epicentre had been affected.

There was no telephone communication with the islands but it was possible bush material houses could have been damaged during the shaking, Itikarai said.

Geoscience Australia, which also measured the quake at 7.3, said its epicentre was around 95km below the earth's surface.

SMH.com.au
A 7.3 magnitude earthquake has struck deep beneath the sea off the southern coast of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea.

The epicentre was estimated to be about 120km deep, between New Ireland and the island of Buka in northern Bougainville, the observatory's assistant director Ima Itikarai said.

Itikarai said he and his staff felt the slow rocking quake in Rabaul for three to four minutes

t was difficult to say if residents of small islands in the Feni and Green groups closest to the quake's epicentre had been affected.

There was no telephone communication with the islands but it was possible bush material houses could have been damaged during the shaking, Itikarai said.

Geoscience Australia, which also measured the quake at 7.3, said its epicentre was around 95km below the earth's surface.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Originally posted by Mayet
This is the largest earthquake in recent weeks and co - incides with solar flares hitting the Earths atmosphere at present.

Just picking up on that latter point - I guess people know about spaceweather.com ... they carry useful references on solar activity, and especially CME's.

The Lasco C3 images are also worth a look, as they show these storms off pretty well.

OFFICIALS in Papua New Guinea hope a 7.3 magnitude earthquake off the coast of New Ireland was too deep to cause any casualties or major damage.
The quake hit at 5.25pm (17:25 AEST) yesterday but by midday today no reports of damage or casualties had come from islands in the vicinity, PNG's National Disaster Office said.

Geoscience Australia, which measured the quake at 7.3 on the Richter scale, said the epicentre was about 95km below the earth's surface.

It was not expected to produce a major tsunami because of its depth, the agency said.

The quake struck off the southern coast of the island of New Ireland and small waves were later recorded by gauges in Rabaul Harbour on adjacent New Britain island.

Rabaul Volcanological Observatory assistant director Ima Itikarai said waves up to 70cm high were recorded in the harbour after the quake so it appeared there had been no major tsunami.
www.news.com.au...

This same area of New Guinea has been active over the past 24 hours, after a break of a couple of days on aftershocks from the quake mantioned above in the article.

In the last 24 hours the region has experienced two quakes in the 6.5 scale along with some smaller ones, all falling in virtually the same spot. The quake on the 8th of Spetember was unusual because it was so deep, 90 miles undergound and since then the quakes have gotten shallower.

www.iris.edu...

29-SEP-2005 20:00:51 -5.41 151.71 4.9 35.0 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
29-SEP-2005 18:51:16 -5.50 151.76 5.6 35.0 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
29-SEP-2005 18:23:26 -5.60 151.85 6.1 35.0 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
29-SEP-2005 15:50:25 -5.51 151.83 6.5 35.0 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
27-SEP-2005 05:24:02 -6.28 147.69 4.8 56.7 EASTERN NEW GUINEA REG., P.N.G.
26-SEP-2005 06:55:13 -5.38 152.52 4.6 35.0 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
22-SEP-2005 16:37:50 -9.38 158.15 5.3 40.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
20-SEP-2005 09:38:54 -5.57 154.58 4.4 133.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
20-SEP-2005 06:24:21 -4.58 153.59 4.8 133.0 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.
20-SEP-2005 01:27:50 -4.59 153.58 4.9 137.0 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.
16-SEP-2005 20:38:51 -3.35 152.15 4.7 366.0 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.
16-SEP-2005 18:27:21 -5.39 154.06 4.2 150.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
16-SEP-2005 15:40:35 -5.21 151.96 4.5 70.0 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
16-SEP-2005 10:48:46 -4.56 153.62 4.8 129.0 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.
16-SEP-2005 05:04:06 -6.33 150.66 4.5 50.0 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
16-SEP-2005 00:31:45 -5.69 153.59 5.5 28.8 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.