OREANDA-NEWS   A powerful 5.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded off the coast of Papua New Guinea on Wednesday, January 14. A natural disaster in the Pacific Ocean is reported on the website of the European—Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC).

The tremors occurred at 01:29 on Thursday, January 15, local time (18:29 Wednesday Moscow time). Their epicenter was located 133 kilometers north of the city of Lae with a population of about 76 thousand people. The source was located at a depth of 188 kilometers.

Earlier in the day, a comparable earthquake was recorded near the shores of the Kuril island of Paramushir. Seismologists estimated its magnitude at 5.0.