Around 12:15pm on Wednesday, a small earthquake was felt in parts of the Nation’s capital, areas such as Waigani, Gordons, Down town Port Moresby; however, this earthquake was not recorded by the Port Moresby Geophysical Observatory (PMGO) of the Department of Mineral Policy and Geohazards Management (DMPGM).
Acting Assistant Director for PMGO Mr Matthew Moihoi told PNG HAUSBUNG an earthquake was not even recorded by other seismic stations operated by the Port Moresby Geophysical Observatory (PMGO) of the Department of Mineral Policy and Geohazards Management (DMPGM), as well as other regional seismic stations.
“We did not receive any recording of the earthquake because earthquake was small, and no earthquake magnitude was assigned we were not able to get any recording.”
“With rumours going around of another potentially large earthquake to happen, this is not true.”
“PMGO would like to advise the general public that the information is not true, and that the public should continue to conduct their business as normal.”
Mr Moihoi further added that it is not possible to predict an earthquake with current monitoring technology available.
“We can never predict if a major or minor earthquake will happen or not, but we can record its magnitude.”