19 Jul 2010

PNG quakes: no major damage reported yet

6:29 pm on 19 July 2010

Papua New Guinea's disaster management office will take most of Monday to assess the damage caused by Sunday night's earthquakes.

The two earthquakes, measuring 7.3 and 7.1, struck the island of New Britain, triggering a tsunami warning that was subsequently lifted.

The operations manager at the West New Britain provincial disaster office, Leo Mapmani, says there have been reports of some damage - mainly, so far, houses collapsing and water tanks bursting.

Several stores in the town of Kimbe town have been closed while they clean up damaged stock.

The earthquake agency in Indonesia issued a tsunami warning after the second quake was recorded 537 kilometres north-east of Port Moresby, at a depth of 26 kilometres.

The first, deeper quake, measured by the US Geological Survey at 7.3, occurred 117 kilometres east of Kandrian, New Britain.