* Astronomy

A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake occurred at 09:01:27 (UTC) on Thursday, December 8, 2005, in Eastern New Guinea Region, Papua New Guinea.

Location 5.493°S, 146.958°E

According to emergency officials efforts to assess the impact of a large earthquake deep under the sea in a remote region of Papua New Guinea were hindered on Saturday by a lack of communication with local villages.
Friday's quake, measuring magnitude 7.3 shook, parts of New Britain and New Ireland provinces but there were no immediate reports of damage.

"We do not believe there was much damage to villages or any loss of life, but we are still trying to contact our people on the ground in the area because there are very few telephones there. The little we do know seems to indicate there was not much damage" - spokesman for the National Disaster and Emergency Services.

The epicentre of the quake was off the east coast of New Britain, about 130 km east-southeast of Rabaul.
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said on Friday there was no threat of a Pacific-wide tsunami from the quake, which Geoscience Australia said occurred at a depth of 95 km.
Seismically active, Papua New Guinea lies on "the Ring of Fire," a zone of volcanic activity which accounts for 75 percent of the world's active and dormant volcanoes.
Rabaul, on New Britain island, was destroyed in the September 1994 eruption of Tuvurvur volcano.
In July 1998, two undersea quakes measuring 7.0 created three tsunamis that killed at least 2,100 near the town of Aitape on the north coast of Papua New Guinea.