Map of the quake location (from NEIC page): 
 
Note that the earthquake is located along the yellow lines, lines which indicate the location of subduction zones where ocean lithosphere is diving beneath New Guinea.  Subduction zones are the sites for most of the truly devastating earthquakes of the world.  This one is part of the notorious "Ring of Fire" that rims the Pacific Ocean with earthquakes and volcanoes. 
 

Map of the quake location with other quakes plotted according to depth.(from NEIC page): 
 
Why plot the earthquakes color-coded by depth?  This is one way geophysicists and geologists determine the type of plate tectonic setting for the earthquake.  In this case, we're dealing with a subduction zone, but a very confusing one.  Usually, there is a nice simple progression from shallow quakes to deep ones as the oceanic plate is subducted deeper and deeper into the mantle.  Here, however, there are (I think) two active subduction zones at odds with each other.  To the southeast of the epicenter star (where the blue, purple and red dots are), we have subduction going down from the south toward the north -- the colors show that transition fairly well and the relatively few shallow dots north of the red zone are probably "back arc" earthquakes, not located along a subduction zone but behind it.  The epicenter of Friday's quake is in an area where the only nearby deep quakes are to the south of the plate boundary, indicating subduction to the south here.  This is a tricky area, in plate tectonics terms.  As I learn more, I'll straighten this out a bit. 

Seismogram of the quake recorded at site DAV.(from IRIS page): 
 
This seismogram was recorded Friday at site DAV (Davao, Philippines).  There are three graphs showing three different components of the ground motion at the site.  The length of time is about 15 minutes (time is recorded in seconds here, showing 900 seconds from left to right -- 2 is 200 sec, 6 is 600 sec or 10 min, etc.).  The top wiggle is called LHE, the middle one LHN and the bottom one LHZ.  The E, N, and Z stand for the three components of motion: East-West (LHE), North-South (LHN), and Vertical (LHZ - here Z is used as in XYZ graphing).  Time Zero is one minute before the P-wave first arrival.  The S-wave comes in later, at about 300 seconds (5 minutes).  Which wave type seems to cause more shaking at the Earth's surface? 
 

Aftermath -- The tsunami (text from Reuters (Excite)): 
 
"The schools will be closed because we do not have the children -- they are all dead," Dickson Dalle told Australian Broadcasting Corporation television in Aitape. 
  
Survivors began to emerge from the devastation, digging themselves out of the sand to seek help or grasping the hands of rescuers sorting among the bodies. 
  
"They picked up a woman hanging on to a canoe for 18 hours with a broken leg and they also dug out a child half-buried that was still alive," Sister Francois said on Sunday. 
  
Villagers living along Sissano lagoon had nowhere to run when the massive tidal waves caused by an offshore earthquake swept out of the darkness and destroyed their beachfront homes at 7.00 p.m. (0900 GMT) on Friday. 
  
Survivors say that first their homes trembled as an earthquake shook the seabed. Then they heard a roar like a jet fighter landing. 
  
Then the three huge waves, the last and largest estimated at 10 meters (30 feet) high, swept men, women and children into the sea, with the palm fronds and tin sheeting of their homes. 
  
Rescue officials estimate that at least 1,000 people died when the tidal waves struck in the darkness. 
  
"We just saw the sea rise up and it came toward the village and we had to run for our lives," said survivor Paul Saroya, who lost eight members of his family. 
  
Many villages on the slender spit of land separating the lagoon from the sea have completely disappeared while a priest's house was picked up and swept 200 meters (600 feet) inland. The Australian Defense Force, which is helping in the rescue operation, estimates 6,000 people are homeless. (Reuters). 
  
See also pages by CNN (includes some photos), ABCNews (has a movie, but it shows nothing), MSNBC (has some more images and video -- but you need their special browser plug-in to see it [boo]).