List of earthquakes in Papua New Guinea

Earthquakes in Papua New Guinea are due to its location near the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire. Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are a mix of vulnerable and earthquake resistant construction. The predominant vulnerable building types are usually metal, timber and unreinforced brick masonry construction.^[1]

Date	Region	Mag.	MMI	Deaths	Injuries	Comments	Ref
2024-03-24	East Sepik	6.9 Mw	VIII	5	2	Severe damage	[2]
2023-04-03	East Sepik	7.0 Mw	VII	8	"scores"	Severe damage	[3]
2022-09-11	Morobe	7.6 Mw	VIII	21	42	Extensive damage	[4]
2020-07-17	Oro Province	7.0 Mw	VII	1		Landslides and a dozen homes collapsed	[5]
2019-05-14	New Ireland	7.6 Mw	VII		1	No major damage or deaths reported.	[6][7]
2019-05-06	Morobe	7.1 Mw	VI			Minor damage in Lae	[8]
2018-10-10	New Britain	7.0 Mw	VI	1		Moderate damage	[9]
2018-04-07	New Guinea	6.3 Mw	VII	4		Aftershock	[10]
2018-03-06	New Guinea	6.7 Mw	VII	25		Aftershock	[11]
2018-03-04	New Guinea	6.0 Mw	VII	11		Aftershock	[12]
2018-02-26	New Guinea	7.5 Mw	IX	160	500+	Heavy damage / Landslides	[13][14]
2017-01-22	Bougainville Island	7.9 Mw	IX	5	17	Moderate damage / Tsunami (local)	[15]
2016-12-17	New Ireland	7.9 Mw	VII			Power was knocked out in some areas / tsunami	[16]
2015-03-29	New Britain	7.5 Mw	VII			Small tsunami	[17]
2005-06-04	Morobe Province	6.1 Mw	VI	1	Several	Many buildings damaged or destroyed in Lae.	[18]
2002-09-09	Sandaun Province	7.6 Mw	IX	6	70	Tsunami (local)	[19]
2002-04-01	Morobe Province	5.3 Mw	IV	36		Deaths from a landslide	[20]
2002-01-10	Sandaun Province	6.7 Mw	IX[21]	1		200 homes destroyed at Aitape	[22]
2000-11-16	New Ireland	7.8 Mw	VII			Additional damage / doublet
2000-11-16	New Ireland	8.0 Mw	VIII	2		Tsunami (local) / doublet
1998-07-17	Sandaun Province	7.0 Mw	VIII	2,183–2,700	Thousands	Destructive local tsunami (15 m (49 ft))
1993-10-13	Morobe Province	6.9 Mw	IX	60	200	Landslides	[23]
1993-08-20	Hela	6.2 Mw	VII		5	Damage in Tari	[24]
1989-03-11	Southern New Ireland	5.8 Mw	V	1		Landslide	[25]
1987-02-09	Morobe Province	7.4 Ms	VII	3		Landslide	[26]
1985-05-11	New Britain	7.2 Mw	VIII	1		Landslides	[27]
1984-03-27	Karkar Island	6.5 Mw	VIII		11	Many buildings destroyed	[28]
1971-07-26	PNG / Solomon Islands	8.1 Mw	VI			Tsunami (local) / doublet
1971-07-14	PNG / Solomon Islands	8.0 Mw	IX	2	5	Tsunami (local) / doublet
1970-10-31	North coast	6.9 Mw	VIII	5–18	20	3 m (10 ft) tsunami
1968-10-23	North coast	7.5				Moderate damage	NGDC 1972
1968-02-12	New Ireland	7.8	VIII			Minimal damage	NGDC 1972
1967-08-13	Bismarck Sea	6.4 Ms				Severe damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1964-11-17	New Britain	7.6 Ms	VIII			Minimal damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1953-04-23	PNG / Solomon Islands	7.4 Mw				Minimal damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1941-01-13	Bismarck Sea	7.4 Mw		4		Moderate damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1939-01-30	Bougainville Island	7.8 Ms		5	Many	Moderate damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1938-05-12		7.5 Ms				Minimal damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1937-05-28	New Britain		VIII	507		Volcanic eruption / tsunami at Tavurvur	NGDC 1972
1933-12-12						Minimal damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1922-01-19	Bismarck Sea	7.5 Ms				Minimal damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1920-02-02	New Britain	7.7 Ms				Minimal damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1919-05-06	PNG / Solomon Islands	7.8 Mw				Minimal damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1916-01-01	PNG / Solomon Islands	7.9 Mw				Minimal damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1906-10-02	Bismarck Sea	7.2 Mw				Limited damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1906-09-14	New Britain	8.0 Mw				Minimal damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1900-09-10	Bismarck Sea	6.8 Ms		Some		Severe damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1873	Maclay Coast	8.0 Ms		Some		Moderate damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
1857-04-17	Bismarck Sea	8.0 Ms				Minimal damage / tsunami	NGDC 1972
Note: The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described also apply to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded.

References

1. "PAGER". United States Geological Survey. 10 September 2022. Archived from the original on 11 September 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
2. National Earthquake Information Center (23 March 2024). "M 6.9 - 38 km ENE of Ambunti, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
3. National Earthquake Information Center (2 April 2023). "M 7.0 - New Guinea, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
4. "M 7.6 - 67 km E of Kainantu, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 10 Sep 2022.
5. "M 7.0 - 114 km NNW of Popondetta, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2 Dec 2020.
6. "M 7.5 - 45 km NE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
7. Joey Millar (May 14, 2019). "Papua New Guinea earthquake: TSUNAMI THREAT for Pacific after 7.7 quake". express.co.uk. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
8. "M 7.2 - 33 km NW of Bulolo. Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
9. "M 7.0 - 119 km E of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
10. "M 6.3 - 88 km WSW of Porgera, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
11. "At least 25 killed in PNG aftershocks". Courier Mail. 2018-03-07. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
12. "Strong aftershocks rock PNG leaving 11 people dead". Australia: ABC News. 2018-03-05. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
13. "Pray for those suffering - Post Courier". postcourier.com.pg. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
14. "Death toll in Papua New Guinea quake rises to 75 | IOL News". Retrieved 2018-03-06.
15. "M 7.9 - 41 km WNW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey.
16. "M 7.9 - 54 km E of Taron, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2 Dec 2020.
17. "M 7.5 - 53 km SE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2 Dec 2020.
18. "M 6.1 - 47 km NNW of Lae, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
19. "M7.6 - near the north coast of New Guinea, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey.
20. "M 5.3 - 62 km NW of Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey.
21. "PAGER" (PDF). United States Geological Survey. 2 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
22. "M6.7 - near the north coast of New Guinea, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey.
23. "M6.9 - eastern New Guinea region, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey.
24. "M 6.2 - 28 km SW of Tari, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
25. "M5.8 - New Britain region, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey.
26. "M7.4 - eastern New Guinea region, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey.
27. "M7.2 - New Britain region, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey.
28. "M6.5 - near the north coast of New Guinea, Papua New Guinea". United States Geological Survey.

Sources

• NGDC (1972), Significant Earthquake Database (Data Set), National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA, doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K