Moderate quake shakes PNG

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2006

SYDNEY (AFP) — An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 has struck Papua New Guinea's New Britian region, the US Geological Survey said. The tremor struck Friday at 8:13 pm (1013 GMT) 98 kilometres (61 miles) east-northeast of the city of Kandrian, New Britain, the service said. The earthquake originated at a depth of 54 kilometres.

The reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale, now used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released. © 2006 AFP