"Hamalo Dul, a bachelor degree holder in Political Science at the University of PNG said the earthquake is not a natural thing as it has never happened before especially in the part of the Highlands region."
Well that settles that, it was all Oil Search's fault as earthquake's have never ever happened in the PNG region previously!
The political scientist-detective said so.
Earthquakes are common near Papua New Guinea, which lies on the 4000-kilometre-long Pacific Australia plate. It forms a ring of fire...
Papua New Guinea has had: (M1.5 or greater)
6 earthquakes in the past 24 hours
94 earthquakes in the past 7 days
114 earthquakes in the past 30 days
328 earthquakes in the past 365 days
Oh and what about the devastating 1998 one?
A comprehensive discussion and listing of historical earthquakes and tsunamis in the region can be found at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Tsunami Laboratory and in an article by Everingham (1974).
mce-anchorThe tsunami that struck New Guinea on July 17, 1998 was the most devastating tsunami since the 1976 Moro Gulf, Philippines, tsunami and may surpass that event (Lockridge and Smith, 1984; Satake and Imamura, 1995). The high reported runups and the tremendous loss of life are of great concern to all, including the international scientific community. Scientists closely examined this event in hopes of mitigating such disasters in the future.
New Guinea is a seismically active region, the site of an arc-continent collision, where tectonic plates are converging and sliding past each other. The tectonic boundaries and faulting in this region are very complex and form part of the “Ring of Fire”, a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates."
The Earthquake
The recorded magnitude of the earthquake was 7.1, and the epicenter was located in northern New Guinea near the coast. The fault mechanism from the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) shown by the red-and-white ball indicates that the earthquake could have occurred as uplift on a vertical fault or sliding on a horizontal fault. The inset in the upper right corner of the figure shows the location of the epicentre.
The source mechanisms for previous shallow earthquakes in the region display a remarkable diversity in the type of faulting. (Click here for an explanation of "beachball" diagrams.) Near the July 17, 1998 event, however, most of the events are along steeply dipping reverse faults. Note the similarity in mechanism between the 5/14/82 event and the 7/17/98 event. Mechanisms to the south and east are mostly strike-slip events, whereas mechanisms to the west are mostly normal faulting events.
Mar 2 2018 at 11:36 AM
Updated Mar 2 2018 at 11:36 AM
ExxonMobil's PNG LNG restart uncertain as pipeline escapes quake damage
"ExxonMobil has reported that the 700km pipeline at its $US19 billion liquefied natural gas project in Papua New Guinea appears to have escaped unscathed from the massive earthquake that rocked the PNG Highlands region early Monday but the timing of a restart of production remains uncertain.
The US major promptly declared "force majeure" on LNG deliveries from the project, according to sources, after having been forced to halt production after the 7.5 magnitude quake, thought to be the largest to hit..."
