A strong earthquake of preliminary magnitude 7 struck Papua New Guinea, seismologists said.
At the moment there are no reports of casualties or damage, nor has a tsunami alert been raised.
The quake, which struck at 3:04 a.m. local time on Monday, had its epicenter at Chambri Lake, some 37 kilometers east of Ambunti or 96 kilometers southwest of Wewak, the capital of East Sepik province, media said. local.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the quake had a magnitude of 7, which is a significant drop from previous estimates of 7.3 and 7.9. It struck about 62 kilometers below the surface, making it a fairly deep quake.
According to the USGS, up to 4.5 million people may have felt the quake, including 466,000 people who may have felt tremors. “powerful” a “Very strong”.
Earthquakes in this mountainous country are frequent, because it is located in the “Pacific Ring of Fire”.
A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea in September 2022, killing 21 people and injuring dozens.