Papua New Guinea hits by 5.8 magnitude earthquake, Pacific Ring of Fire on red alert

(World ) : As reported by Express, an earthquake with a 5.8 magnitude hits Papua New Guinea on Wednesday as scores of shocks recorded. It struck an area near the town of Lae, around 170 miles from the busy city of Port Moresby. Officials said the towns of Lae, home to 76,000 people, and Bulolo, home to 16,000, experienced light shaking. A further 350,000 people experienced weak shaking further from the epicentre. No tsunami watch or warning was issued for the earthquake, which struck at a depth of 45 miles at just before midday.

According to Express, this strong earthquake in PNG puts the Pacific Ring of Fire on red alert after 32 other sizeable quakes hit the region in recent days. Solomon Islands was rocked by a 5.3 quake, while a 5.3 quake also struck Indonesia. Further north, two earthquakes struck Japan, first a 5.0 quake near Shizunai and then a slightly smaller 4.8 quake near Oarai.

Earthquakes also rattled the west coast of America and Canada during the last 24 hours, with the Gulf of Alaska rocked by 12 separate earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 2.5 to 4.0. This comes just a week after a massive 8.0 magnitude quake caused evacuations in Alaska and tsunami watches along the entire west coast of America and parts of Mexico.