Papua New Guinea hit by 7.1 magnitude earthquake

Big one in ring of fire.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16173888

Massive but deep earthquake below Eastern Papua New Guinea – main concern : landslides

14.12.2011 – A strong but very deep earthquake happened at 03:04 PM (15:04) below eastern Papua New Guinea. The depth of the earthquake will have weakened the shaking even just above the epicenter. Our main concern are possible landslides.

http://earthquake-report.com/

Love Always
mudra

I do worry when there's strong earthquake activity in PNG as I remember watching a show on TV a year or so ago which was showing a volcano up there they're very worried about erupting that's generally being kept quiet. Trouble is I can't remember the name of it now but I do remember it's in that vicinity. Here's a map of the active volcanoes around there.



As you can see, there's a few too many for comfort.

Here's a bit more info on them:-
The PNG volcanoes were formed as a consequence of the Australian and Pacific plates colliding (along with several other smaller plates). The region is geologically complex. The Pacific plate, moving ten centimetres north west per year, is colliding with the Australian plate, which is moving northwards at the rate of eight centimetres a year. Pieces of these two plates have broken off in the collision, creating several micro plates.

The volcanoes were formed from magma, which has forced its way to the earth's surface from depths of 150-200 kilometres. The magma formed from micro plates that melted while descending beneath the Australian plate. Friction between the moving plates also causes earthquakes in the region. The volcanoes appear at the surface about 150 kilometres from the collision zone.

Fourteen of PNG's volcanoes have erupted within the last 150 years. Of these, five (Rabaul, Manam, Karkar, Ulawun and Lamington) are high-risk volcanoes situated near significant numbers of people whose lives and property would threatened if they were to erupt.

From: http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/archives/secondary/casestud/png/4/volcanoes.html