A powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Bismarck Archipelago region of Papua New Guinea

December 14, 2011 – PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Bismarck Archipelago region of Papua New Guinea. The earthquake struck 115 km (71.5 miles) below the surface. The earthquake’s epicenter was 89 km (55 miles) SSW of Lae, New Guinea, PNG and 221 km from Port Moresby Papua New Guinea. Geoscience Australia’s website said the quake could be felt by people 1,523 kilometers away. It says damage may have occurred within a 122-kilometre radius. An AAP correspondent reported that the windows of the parliament building shook for about 1.5 minutes; however there appears to be no damage. We warned in earlier posts that stress from tectonic plate subduction was creating dangerous tension points along the planet’s numerous island arcs. Today’s 7.3 magnitude earthquake was just one such stress release from the mounting seismic tension. Island arcs are very high-risk regions for catastrophic seismic and volcanic episodes culminating from the dangers of intensifying Earthchanges and may be some of the planet’s first notable causalities of devastation from widespread geological change. The NOAA said a tsunami alert would not be issued for the Pacific region as a result of this earthquake. 

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/