Strong quakes rattle Tonga, PNG: USGS

[beam me up scottie]

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A strong quake measuring 6.7 in magnitude rocked the South Pacific island nation of Tonga on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The New Britain region of Papua New Guinea was also shaken by a 6.2 magnitude quake, the USGS reported. It was unclear whether the tremors had caused any casualties or damage.

It said the Tonga quake hit at 4:36 p.m. local time (0336 GMT) 145 km (90 miles) northeast of the capital Nuku'alofa. The tremor was registered at a depth of 50 km (31 miles).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said the quake near Papua New Guinea's New Britain island hit at about 0326 GMT Sunday.

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-05-28T051227Z_01_SP119807_RTRUKOC_0_US-QUAKE-PACIFIC.xml

[Suich]

1. Is this connected to the Indonesian quake?

I'm not very good on geography for that part of the world.

[DiscussTheTruth]

2. It's towards the bottom right of the island chain.

http://www.iris.edu/seismon/

You will see two big red circles with lots of yellows.

[beam me up scottie]

3. Same tectonic plate

[Suich]

4. Crap.

[beam me up scottie]

7. No tsunami though.

"No destructive Pacific-wide tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data," the center said on its Web Site, adding the PNG quake was 6.7 in magnitude.

[theHandpuppet]

9. No. That one was a 6.2 in Java the day before

The earthquake in Java was followed the next day by two other powerful quakes -- a 6.2 in PNG and the 6.7 in the Tongas.

Here's a good link/map: http://www.iris.edu/seismon/

[momophile]

5. thanks for the news... I was in the Peace Corps there

I'll try to call my family there tomorrow.

[beam me up scottie]

6. I hope everyone's okay.

I'll bet it's a beautiful place to live.

[Knurled99]

8. Yikes...

I worry sometimes when I hear of a large earthquake out in that direction, seeing as I live smack dab in the middle of pearl harbor (Ford Island.) Hopefully there will be ample warning if a tsunami ever comes our way.. :scared: