<p> A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook northwestern Papua New Guinea before dawn Monday, according to the US Geological Survey.</p>.<p>The temblor struck 97 kilometers (60 miles) from the coastal town of Wewak at a depth of 62 kilometers, and occurred shortly after 4:00 am local time, the USGS reported.</p>.<p>No tsunami order was issued.</p>.<p>Loosening of soft ground in the quake zone has potential to cause damage to communities in the area, the USGS said, although the area is sparsely populated.</p>.<p>Such loosening, known as liquefaction, can cause substantial subsidence and horizontal sliding of the ground and result in major damage, the seismology agency said.</p>.<p>The earthquake shook an area about 100 kilometers east of the border with Indonesia on the island of New Guinea.</p>.<p>The remote New Britain region, part of an archipelago in eastern Papua New Guinea, was struck by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in late February.</p>
<p> A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook northwestern Papua New Guinea before dawn Monday, according to the US Geological Survey.</p>.<p>The temblor struck 97 kilometers (60 miles) from the coastal town of Wewak at a depth of 62 kilometers, and occurred shortly after 4:00 am local time, the USGS reported.</p>.<p>No tsunami order was issued.</p>.<p>Loosening of soft ground in the quake zone has potential to cause damage to communities in the area, the USGS said, although the area is sparsely populated.</p>.<p>Such loosening, known as liquefaction, can cause substantial subsidence and horizontal sliding of the ground and result in major damage, the seismology agency said.</p>.<p>The earthquake shook an area about 100 kilometers east of the border with Indonesia on the island of New Guinea.</p>.<p>The remote New Britain region, part of an archipelago in eastern Papua New Guinea, was struck by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in late February.</p>