Power is still out in Papua New Guinea's East New Britain province after last night's magnitude 7.5 earthquake.

Photo: United States Geological Survey

The shallow quake hit about 50 kilometres offshore from Rabaul, triggering violent shaking and widespread panic.

It triggered an initial tsunami warning, though local officials said no waves were observed nor any casualties yet reported, with a full assessment of damage not possible until daybreak.

Namatanai district on New Ireland is the populated area closest to the epicentre.

The MP for Namatanai, Walter Schnaubelt, says preliminary reports from his district indicate the violent shaking caused numerous houses in Konoagil sub-district to fall over.

He says no deaths have been reported, but is waiting for a more extensive report from a district team that has been dispatched to assess damage.

Meanwhile, MP Jelta Wong for Gazelle district in East New Britain, some 33km to the west of the quake epicentre said he was waiting on a rapid assessment but there had been a lot of damage from the quake.

The districts close to the epicentre have all experienced power outages.

"It was very, very violent," said Frank Kilaur, a sergeant at the Rabaul police station said after the quake. "It was very strong and shook the whole place up.

"At the moment there's no damage, but we have to wait until daylight, we're in pitch black right now."

"We will have some more reports, probably in the morning, so we will wait. We are okay here."

In an update this afternoon, the national provider PNG Power says electricity has not yet been restored to the East New Britain grid.

The company said two power stations suffered minor damage and will need to be repaired.

It said work is under way to check generators and power lines.

Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades

Mr Kilaur said the earthquake had sent panicked residents fleeing into the streets, although he said the town quietened down again soon after. There had been violent aftershocks through the night, he said.

An initial scan by torchlight showed no significant damage in the town, he said, adding that authorities were waiting for daylight to conduct a more thorough assessment.

The police were yet to hear from remote areas outside of the town, and from small islands closer to the epicentre, he added.

A spokesperson for the district's Nonga Hospital said no one had been taken there needing treatment.

There is no tsunami threat to New Zealand following the M7.7 NEW BRITAIN REGION PAPUA NEW GUINEA earthquake. Based on current information, the initial assessment is that the earthquake is unlikely to have caused a tsunami that will pose a threat to NZ. https://t.co/ccVFYQQoBr — MCDEM (@NZcivildefence) May 14, 2019

The shallow earthquake trigged an initial tsunami warning for Papua New Guinea and nearby Solomon Islands, with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre forecasting a surge as high as one metre.

But early on Wednesday, the centre said the threat had largely passed with no reports of tsunami waves.

Don Tokunai, a disaster official on Rabaul, said villagers close to the epicentre had reported the ocean receding, but there was no tsunami wave.

"They said they just woke up and felt the shake, but that they are still okay there," he said.

"As yet we haven't received any information about damage," he said.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, sitting on the Pacific's Ring of Fire. Tuesday's tremor was the third earthquake in three months with a magnitude higher than seven.

Rabaul itself is no stranger to natural disaster either, with much of the town buried by ash in a 1994 volcanic eruption.

For updates during the day on the quake's aftermath see RNZ Pacific News

- RNZ Pacific / Reuters </s> The 7.7 earthquake struck the island of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a threat of tsunami. They said in an alert: “An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 occurred in the New Britain region, Papua New Guinea at 12:58 UTC.

“Based on the preliminary earthquake parameters, hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 1000KM of the earthquake epicentre.”

They later added: “A tsunami threat exists for parts of the Pacific located closer to the earthquake.

“It is still too early to determine whether there is a possible tsunami threat to Hawaii.”

The County of Hawaii Civil Defense later confirmed there was no threat. </s> A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea Sunday, shaking homes and sparking a tsunami alert, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.

The tsunami warning for the Pacific island nation and its neighbours was later cancelled.

The tremor struck 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Panguna on Papua New Guinea's Bougainville island at a depth of 153 kilometres at 3:30 pm local time (0430 GMT), the US Geological Survey said.

No reports of damage or injuries have emerged so far, said the PNG Geophysical Observatory in the capital Port Moresby.

"But we know that given such a depth at which the earthquake happened, the chances of any major damage or casualties are not highly likely," spokesman Mathew Moihoi told AFP.

"Had there been any major disturbances or damage, we would have known by now," he said, adding that the area where the quake struck was sparsely populated.

USGS's preliminary assessment was that light to moderate damage was possible on Bougainville island. The quake was revised down from 8.0-magnitude to 7.9.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves of between 0.3 and one metre (1-3 feet) above tide level were possible for some coastal areas of PNG and the neighbouring Solomon Islands.

The center issued another statement about an hour later to say that threat had passed.

"Even though it is quite deep at 150 kilometres, because it is such a large earthquake, it will produce shaking on the surface," Geoscience Australia seismologist Spiro Spiliopoulos told AFP earlier.

He added that some damage was possible.

Aid group Save the Children has a office on Buka island next to the main Bougainville island.

Its PNG country director Jennifer El-Sibai described the quake as "really powerful" but said no reports of damage had been received so far.

Connie Wihongi-Stevens posted on Facebook that her husband, who is working in Arawa some 46 kilometres west of where the quake struck, was safe but shaken.

"The home he was in shook terribly and people were running everywhere cars rocking to and fro not nice hoping to hear from him when the power comes back on," she wrote.

Story continues

A 7.9-magnitude quake struck off Papua New Guinea in mid-December, but no casualties were reported and an initial tsunami threat was later deemed to have passed.

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 due to friction between tectonic plates.

In 2013 the Solomon Islands were hit by a devastating tsunami after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake rattled the region. That tsunami left at least 10 people dead, destroyed hundreds of homes and left thousands of people homeless. </s> SYDNEY (Reuters) - People living along Papua New Guinea’s coastline fled to higher ground on Saturday after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck east of the Pacific nation, triggering a tsunami warning for parts of its archipelago.

A couple of hours after the quake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said the threat had largely passed, although it said government agencies should continue to monitor coastal tides.

“Based on all available data ... the tsunami threat from this earthquake has now passed,” the PTWC said in an updated and final alert after the quake, which struck 157 km (98 miles) east of Rabaul.

The major tremor initially triggered a more widespread tsunami warning for the Pacific region, including Indonesia and the Solomon Islands, but that was pulled back after the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) downgraded the magnitude slightly from 8. It also revised the depth of the tremor to 103.2 km from its original estimate of 73 kms.

Many residents in the northern parts of the autonomous region of Bougainville sought higher ground amid warnings that tsunami waves were possible.

“The town residents have vacated the whole place; those in the villages live higher up, so they’re ok, it’s just those near the coast,” local resident Christabel Biasu told Reuters by phone.

Quakes are common in Papua New Guinea, which sits on the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire”, a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties after Saturday’s major tremor.

A nurse at Buka General Hospital in Bougainville said the quake was so strong it felt like the building she was sleeping in would topple. She said patients were being moved a few kilometers to higher ground.

“We have about 16 beds,” she told Reuters by phone, declining to give her name. “Most of them are already a suburb up.”

The small Pacific nation of Nauru, where one of Australia’s offshore immigration detention centers is located, had a tsunami warning in place, according to the official government Twitter account.

Related Coverage New Zealand issues tsunami warning after quake off Papua New Guinea

Residents in other parts of Papua New Guinea, including the capital of Port Moresby and Kavieng in the northern tip of New Ireland island, said they had not felt the quake, and no evacuation plans were in place.

New Zealand also canceled an earlier tsunami warning. </s> An earthquake measuring 7.9 has rocked the Pacific Ocean sparking widespread warnings that a deadly tsunami could hit Papua New Guinea.

Scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a statement claiming giant waves of up to 3 metres are possible.

The quake struck 157km to the east of Rabaul this morning at 10.51UTC or GMT at a depth of 64 miles, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The quake was was initially reported as 8.0 before being downgraded to 7.9.

The USGS classifies a magnitude 7.9 earthquake as a major earthquake with the possibility of serious damage.

The New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence at first said the warning extended to parts of the New Zealand coastline and told people to stay off the beaches.

But officials then cancelled the warning after their tsunami expert determined there was no threat to New Zealand.

A tsunami threat to Hawaii is reportedly still being evaluated.

The New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence tweeted: "We are cancelling the tsunami threat for NZ issued earlier this morning after the mag 8 eq in Papua New Guinea at 11.51pm

"The tsunami expert panel has assessed the mag 8 PNG earthquake and determined there is no threat to NZ. The threat is being cancelled."

Island Papua New Guinea sits in the Pacific Ocean and has 7.3 million inhabitants.

In 1998 over 2,000 people were killed when a 7.0 earthquake sparked 50ft waves that caused widespread destruction on the island.

British tourists visit the country to witness its immense cultural and biological diversity from beaches to rainforests.

Last weekend a 7.7magnitude earthquake struck near to the neighbouring Solomon Islands just over 1,000 miles away.

It initially sparked threats of a tsunami for the next three-hours as far as Hawaii before the warning was called off. </s> SYDNEY (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea on Saturday, and a tsunami threat was issued to areas near the epicenter. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The magnitude-7.9 quake struck 46 kilometers (29 miles) east of Taron in Papua New Guinea, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was deep, at 103 kilometers (61 miles). Deeper earthquakes tend to cause less damage than shallow ones.

The USGS initially said the quake’s magnitude was 8.0, but later downgraded the strength.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a threat of a tsunami in Papua New Guinea and nearby areas. It said tsunami waves reaching 1-3 meters (yards) high were possible along the coasts of Papua New Guinea, while waves in other areas, including the Solomon Islands, would likely be less than 0.3 meter (1 foot) high.

The quake rattled residents near the epicenter on the island of New Ireland, but was not felt in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, said Mathew Moihoi, an official with the Geophysical Observatory. There were no immediate reports of damage, though officials were still assessing the situation, he said.

Papua New Guinea sits on the Ring of Fire, the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes are common. </s> A major 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but no immediate casualties were reported and an initial tsunami threat was later deemed to have passed.

The earthquake struck 60 km to the east of Taron, New Ireland, at 8.51 pm local time (4.21 p.m. IST) at a depth of some 75 km, the USGS said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre initially warned hazardous waves could hit coastal areas of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nauru, the Solomon Islands and others.

But two hours after the quake, the PTWC said the threat had passed, despite some tsunami waves having been observed.

New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence also briefly issued a tsunami warning for all of the country's coast.

“Large #earthquake in PNG. Our team reports that people moving to higher ground in some areas due to #tsunami potential," Oxfam in the Pacific tweeted.

But Geoscience Australia seismologist Dan Jaksa downplayed the severity of the quake, noting its depth made the likelihood of a tsunami "low".

"This region of PNG is also pretty remote and very, very sparsely populated," he added.

"There would definitely have been shaking, in fact we logged it as shaking felt as much as 3,400 kilometres away, which would include population centres like Rabaul (on Papua New Guinea's New Britain island).

"But it was far enough away for the shaking to not be strong."

The USGS said on its website that "some casualties and damage are possible and the impact should be relatively localized."

Several aftershocks struck the area, the USGS said, the largest of which was a 6.3-magnitude quake.

Earthquakes are common near Papua New Guinea, which lies on the 4,000-kilometre-long Pacific Australia plate, which forms part of the "Ring of Fire", a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates.

In 2013 the neighbouring Solomon Islands were hit by a devastating tsunami after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake rattled the region. That tsunami left at least 10 people dead, destroyed hundreds of homes and left thousands of people homeless. </s> A 7.9 magnitude earthquake has struck off the east coast of Papua New Guinea near the Solomon Islands.

The quake struck the Papua New Guinean island of Bougainville on the border with the Solomon Islands at around 4:30am local time at a depth of 131 miles.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned that waves of up to a metre above tide level could strike several coasts along the islands but it said the threat has now passed.

An additional warning was issued to Australia, Samoa, New Zealand, Indonesia, Tonga, New Caledonia and several smaller surrounding islands for smaller waves of up to 0.3 metres above tide level.

The size of the quake was also downgraded to 7.9 magnitude following initially reports of 8.0 and there were no reports of injury or damage.

The greatest tsunami threat had been to Bougainville and that threat had passed without any report of a tsunami, Chris McKee, the assistant director of the Papua New Guinea Geophysical Observatory, said.

"I suspect that because of the great depth of the earthquake, there was probably no significant tsunami," Mr McKee said. He added that the area in which the earthquake struck was sparsely populated.

Solomons government official George Herming said he was not aware of any major tremors being felt in his country or any tsunami.

The countries are located in the Pacific's geologically active "Ring of Fire" – where large amounts of seismic activity occurs due to friction between tectonic plates.

Loti Yates, the director of the Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office, said people had been told to move to higher ground in Choiseul and Western Province.

"That isn't the only fear we have," Yates told Reuters by phone from the capital of Honiara, adding that his office was trying to contact communities closest to the quake's epicentre. "We are also worried about damage from the earthquake."

Chris McKee, assistant director at PNG's Geophysical Observatory Office in Port Moresby, said there were no initial reports of damage from near the epicentre of the quake, which is sparsely populated.

"Because of the great depth of the earthquake it is unlikely that there will be any significant tsunami activity," McKee told Reuters.

Australia and New Zealand both said they had assessed the threat and there was no danger to their coastlines.

Bougainville Island is one of the islands that make up the Autonomous Region of Bougainville within Papua New Guinea(PNG) which is home to around 300,000 people. </s> The US Geological service reported a 7.9 earthquake just before midnight in the New Ireland region of Papua New Guinea's east.

The quake was 103.2km deep.

The New Zealand Civil Defence earlier issued an official tsunami warning for all of New Zealand following the earthquake, but cancelled it half an hour later, saying there was no threat to New Zealand.
A 7.5 MMS quake rattles New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Police Sergeant Frank Kilaur says that the quake was "very, very violent" but no immediate reports of major damages or casualties have been reported. A tsunami alert is issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The tsunami threat has now largely passed.