(CNN)A magnitude 7.9 earthquake has actually struck west of Papua New Guinea.
The quake was 153 kilometers (95.5 miles) focused and deep 40 kilometers (24 miles) west of the town of Panguna, inning accordance with the United States Geological Survey .
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has actually encouraged that tsunami waves of as much as a meter above the tide level are possible for some coasts of Papua New Guinea and neighboring Solomon Islands.
Preliminary reports stated the earthquake, which happened at 2:30 p.m. regional time Sunday (11:30 p.m. Saturday ET) determined 8.0 however USGS later on devalued its magnitude.
The USGS approximates that 72,000 individuals would have experienced serious shaking as an outcome of the quake.
The primary structure of houses in the location suggested they were susceptible to earthquakes, it stated, and deaths were possible.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/22/asia/papua-new-guinea-quake/index.html