Reviewed by USGSPapua New Guinea9y ago
M4.4 earthquake 127 km WNW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea
Tuesday, March 28, 2017, 16:34:01 UTC · 5.711°S, 154.505°E
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck 127 km WNW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, March 28, 2017, 16:34:01 UTC, at a depth of 97.1 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.4
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 97 km
- Intermediate
- 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
60 tons of TNT
That is about 1/251 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 8 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
7 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: intermediate
97 km
Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.
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 2 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.5 on April 16, 2017. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 2,501 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.21919 Papua New Guinea EarthquakeMay 6, 1919 · 123 km NW of this epicenter
- 8.11971 Bougainville EarthquakeJuly 26, 1971 · 174 km NW of this epicenter
- 8.01971 New Britain EarthquakeJuly 14, 1971 · 76 km W of this epicenter
- 8.060 km SE of Kokopo, Papua New GuineaJanuary 1, 1916 · 234 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.935 km WNW of Panguna, Papua New GuineaJanuary 22, 2017 · 95 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.9140 km E of Kokopo, Papua New GuineaDecember 17, 2016 · 173 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.956 km WSW of Panguna, Papua New GuineaJuly 20, 1975 · 115 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.885 km S of Panguna, Papua New GuineaJanuary 30, 1939 · 181 km SE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 45 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 25 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1983M6.4
Ulawun, Rabaul
22 Dec 1983 · 294 km away · intensity V
10 deaths$25 million damage
- 1939M7.7
Bougainville Island
30 Jan 1939 · 181 km away
5 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1971M7.9
New Ireland: Bougainville
14 Jul 1971 · 71 km away · intensity IX
3 deathsUnder $1 million damagetsunami
- 2017M7.9
Bougainville Island
22 Jan 2017 · 95 km away · intensity IX
3 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1996M7.2
Bougainville Island
29 Apr 1996 · 105 km away
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 2014M7.1
Bougainville Island
11 Apr 2014 · 114 km away
1 deathLimited damage (under $1M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.