Two powerful earthquakes struck the Irian Jaya region of Indonesia this morning.
Thursday 30th September 2010
Two powerful undersea earthquakes struck the Aru Islands off the coast of New Guinea in quick succession this morning.
The first quake struck at 6:11 New Zealand Daylight Time, centred 105 km north-north-west of Dobo, Kepulauan Aru (310 km west-south-west of Enarotali, Papua), Indonesia. The U.S. Geological Survey reports this event as magnitude 6.6 at a depth of 21 km. Geoscience Australia reports the event as magnitude 7.2 at a depth of 0 km.
Geoscience Australia estimates that the quake would have caused damage within 120 km of the epicentre and would have been felt up to 1500 km away.
A second quake struck the same area less than a minute later. The U.S. Geological Survey reports the event as magnitude 7.2 at a depth of 12 km.
Geoscience Australia reports the second quake as magnitude 7.2 at a depth of 30 km. It estimates that the quake would have caused damage within 120 km of the epicentre and would have been felt up to 1500 km away.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a bulletin for the events at 7:08 a.m. describing the quakes as a complex multiple rupture earthquake. Also reporting the overall magnitude as 7.2 at a depth of 33 km, it advised that a tsunami threat did not exist for Pacific coastlines.
[Compiled from data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey and its contributing agencies, the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, and Geoscience Australia.]