Quakes hit PNG, Banda Sea

Quakes hit PNG, Banda Sea

HONG KONG (AP): An intense earthquake hit Papua New Guinea early Saturday, followed by another in the Banda Sea near East Timor, seismologists in Hong Kong and Australia said.

There were no reports of damage or casualties, nor was there evidence of tsunami, the huge waves that can be generated by earthquakes.

The first tremor, with an estimated 6.4 magnitude, shook the Gulf of Papua New Guinea near the Fly River estuary, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) west of the capital, Port Moresby, said Mark Leonard, a spokesman for the Australian Geological Survey Organization.

"The people living in the river estuary would have got a bit of a shock," Leonard said.

The area is not heavily built up and the small, wooden buildings common in the region tend to be earthquake resistant, he added.

Also Saturday, another quake with an estimated magnitude of 6.4 hit an area near East Timor, the Hong Kong Observatory said.

It was centered beneath the Banda Sea about 372 kilometers (230 miles) east-northeast of Dili, East Timor, the observatory said.

The Banda Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean, is west of Papua New Guinea and north of Western Australia.

An earthquake with a magnitude of over 6.0 can cause considerable damage when centered under heavily populated areas.