Tsunami warning issued in Papua New Guinea after 7.9 magnitude earthquake

Huge slips, caused by the 7.5 earthquake, are seen blocking State Highway One north of Kaikoura on November 14, 2016 in New Zealand

(Image credit: Pool/Getty Images)

last updated 17 December 2016

A 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck in the ocean off the coast of the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea Saturday evening local time. Residents fled to higher ground as a tsunami warning was issued for coastal areas as well as other inhabited islands nearby, including New Zealand.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.