During June, most of the largest global earthquakes struck in the Pacific and Indian oceans. No casualties were reported in any of the quakes. All the epicentres, except the one in Kyrgyzstan, lie on the ‘Ring of Fire’. Kyrgyzstan lies in the limits of the Tien Shan orogenic belt. An orogenic belt develops when continental plates hit and push each other upwards to form mountain ranges. A number of earthquakes are recorded each day in the Kyrgyzstan and neighbouring regions. Another interesting seismic region is that of Papua New Guinea due to its tectonic complexity. It is trapped between the convergence of the Australian and Pacific plates and thus is very seismically active. In fact, since 1900, Papua New Guinea has been hit by 22 earthquakes with a magnitude above 7.5. Meanwhile no tremors were recorded close to the Maltese islands last month. Readers who feel any earthquake-related shaking are encouraged to report it by filling the questionnaire on the website http://seismic.research.um.edu.mt.

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