M6.9 earthquake 73 km WSW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea

Tuesday, September 9, 1941, 07:19:42 UTC · 6.551°S, 154.866°E

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 73 km WSW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, September 9, 1941, 07:19:42 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.8 on January 30, 1939.

Magnitude: 6.9; Strong · mw
Depth: 15 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: VI; Strong (ShakeMap)
PAGER alert: None; Not issued
Tsunami: No flag; USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

388 kilotons of TNT

That is about 26 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 813 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

28 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Pacific and North Bismarck plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

15 km

Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.

Did You Feel It?

Where it was felt

No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.

I felt it — report to USGS ↗

USGS PAGER estimate

Who was exposed to shaking

USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.

After the main event

Aftershocks within 100 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 67 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 8 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 5 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1939M7.7
Bougainville Island
30 Jan 1939 · 82 km away
5 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1919M8.2
Solomon Islands
6 May 1919 · 224 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1907M7.7
New Britain
4 May 1907 · 166 km away
1768M7.5
New Ireland
22 Jun 1768 · 297 km away
tsunami
1913M7.5
Solomon Islands
30 May 1913 · 197 km away
1923M7.1
Bismarck Archipelago
2 Nov 1923 · 222 km away
tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers