M4.5 earthquake 208 km WNW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea

Wednesday, March 1, 2017, 02:32:13 UTC · 5.500°S, 153.788°E

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 208 km WNW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, 02:32:13 UTC, at a depth of 29.3 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.6 on February 27, 2017.

Magnitude: 4.5; Light · mb
Depth: 29 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: —; No ShakeMap
PAGER alert: None; Not issued
Tsunami: No flag; USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

85 tons of TNT

That is about 1/178 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 6 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

28 km

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

Depth: shallow

29 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 50 km

USGS lists 3 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.8 on March 15, 2017. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 2,840 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 49 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 538 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1937
Keravia, Rabaul, Kokopo
28 May 1937 · 223 km away · intensity VIII
507 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1983M6.4
Ulawun, Rabaul
22 Dec 1983 · 213 km away · intensity V
10 deaths$25 million damage
1939M7.7
Bougainville Island
30 Jan 1939 · 249 km away
5 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1941M7.4
Bismarck Sea
13 Jan 1941 · 241 km away
4 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1971M7.9
New Ireland: Bougainville
14 Jul 1971 · 12 km away · intensity IX
3 deathsUnder $1 million damagetsunami
2017M7.9
Bougainville Island
22 Jan 2017 · 174 km away · intensity IX
3 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers