September 30, 2005
A SERIES of earthquakes had rattled the eastern reaches of Papua New Guinea but there were no reports of tidal waves, officials said today.
The first and largest tremor, measuring about 6.5 on the Richter scale, hit off the coast of the island of New Britain about 140km south of Rabaul about 02.50am (AEST).
It was followed by quakes measuring 5.9 and 5.6 within three hours, seismologist at Geoscience Australia David Jepsen told AFP.
Earlier, the Hong Kong Observatory had measured the first quake at 6.8 on the Richter scale.
"It would have been felt widely. It would have been felt up to 500km away," Mr Jepsen said. While the quakes could have caused some damage within 100km of the epicentre, they were unlikely to have generated dangerous tidal waves, he said.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16769877-23109,00.html
A SERIES of earthquakes had rattled the eastern reaches of Papua New Guinea but there were no reports of tidal waves, officials said today.
The first and largest tremor, measuring about 6.5 on the Richter scale, hit off the coast of the island of New Britain about 140km south of Rabaul about 02.50am (AEST).
It was followed by quakes measuring 5.9 and 5.6 within three hours, seismologist at Geoscience Australia David Jepsen told AFP.
Earlier, the Hong Kong Observatory had measured the first quake at 6.8 on the Richter scale.
"It would have been felt widely. It would have been felt up to 500km away," Mr Jepsen said. While the quakes could have caused some damage within 100km of the epicentre, they were unlikely to have generated dangerous tidal waves, he said.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16769877-23109,00.html
