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Videos of the aftermath of a 7.6 magnitude earthquake show cracked roads and damaged buildings.
A 7.6 magnitude earthquake has struck off eastern Papua New Guinea, causing damage to buildings and spreading panic among residents.
The United States Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at a depth of 61km (38 miles), about 67km (41 miles) from the eastern town of Kainantu on Sunday morning.
It issued a tsunami warning, but subsequently said the threat “has now passed”. But it did, however, note that there could still be “minor sea level fluctuations in some coastal areas”.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Papua New Guinea residents took to social media sharing images and videos of cracked roads, damaged buildings and cars, and items falling off supermarket shelves.
Video of damage to a university in the eastern highland town of Goroka showed large cracks appearing in walls and window awnings falling during the earthquake.
Locals in Lae and Madang, closest to the epicenter, told the AFP news agency that the shaking was much more vigorous than previous quakes.
“Very strong, everything was like sitting on a sea – just floating,” said Hivi Apokore, a worker at the Jais Aben Resort near Madang.
Earthquakes are common in Papua New Guinea, which sits on the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire,” a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates.
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake rocked the country’s remote mountainous highlands in 2018, killing more than 100 people and damaging thousands of homes.
In neighboring Indonesia in 2004 a 9.1-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region.
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