On Tuesday, 7.5-magnitude quake hits the South Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea, which generated a small tsunami near the epicenter. Power lines stopped and walls cracked, but there was no widespread damage.
Assistant director of the Geophysical Observatory in the capital, Port Moresby, said that a tsunami estimated at under 1 meter (3 feet) was seen in the harbor of Rabaul, a town near the epicenter. There were no reports of flooding, as the tsunami didn’t rise beyond the normal level of high tide.
McKee said the earthquake brought down power lines in the Rabaul area, knocking out power to residents and to the local Geophysical Observatory office. There were a few reports of structural damage in Kokopo, including cracks in some walls, but no reports of injuries. Apart from Rabaul, there were no other reports of unusual wave activity, and any further threat was likely to be minimal, with waves of less than 0.3 meters (1 foot) predicted.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the temblor struck at a depth of 42 kilometers (26 miles), about 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the town of Kokopo in northeastern Papua New Guinea.
