Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Read more
An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck near Lae, the second largest city in Papua New Guinea, on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.
City police official Mildred Ongige told Reuters by telephone that a “very huge” earthquake was felt. “It was a few minutes ago so we have no further details of damage but we are concerned,” she added.
There were not immediate reports of local damage.
A tsunami warning was not issued after the quake, which struck at a depth of 10 km, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
The quake’s epicentre was 26 km (~16 miles) from the city of Lae, which has a population of over 76,000 and is located in the country’s Morobe province, according to USGS.
The quake was initially reported at a magnitude of 6.8 by the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) before the agency revised it to 6.6.
Papua New Guinea straddles the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire”, a region known for frequent earthquakes.
In March last year, three people were killed and over 1,000 homes destroyed after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit the remote East Sepik province in the north of the country.
