Reviewed by USGSPapua New Guinea39y ago
M4.2 earthquake 49 km ESE of Lae, Papua New Guinea
Thursday, November 5, 1987, 02:29:54 UTC · 6.833°S, 147.426°E
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 49 km ESE of Lae, Papua New Guinea on Thursday, November 5, 1987, 02:29:54 UTC, at a depth of 71.2 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 71 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
30 tons of TNT
That is about 1/500 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 16 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
20 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the South Bismarck and Woodlark plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: intermediate
71 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 3 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.4 on November 19, 1987. 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 505 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.01906 Papua New Guinea EarthquakeSeptember 14, 1906 · 69 km N of this epicenter
- 7.638 km NW of Finschhafen, Papua New GuineaOctober 2, 1906 · 60 km N of this epicenter
- 7.548 km NW of Finschhafen, Papua New GuineaMay 12, 1938 · 70 km N of this epicenter
- 7.549 km WSW of Wau, Papua New GuineaFebruary 26, 1963 · 145 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.492 km WSW of Kandrian, Papua New GuineaMay 6, 1947 · 152 km E of this epicenter
- 7.454 km W of Kandrian, Papua New GuineaOctober 16, 1987 · 191 km E of this epicenter
- 7.454 km NNW of Finschhafen, Papua New GuineaFebruary 8, 1987 · 88 km N of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 17 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 3 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1987M7.6
Huon Peninsula, Umboi Island
8 Feb 1987 · 88 km away · intensity VII
3 deaths$3 million damagetsunami
- 1906M8.0
New Britain
14 Sep 1906 · 175 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1857M8.0
Bismarck Sea
17 Apr 1857 · 156 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1873M8.0
Maclay Coast
1873 · 216 km away · intensity IX
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1987M7.7
New Britain: Kandrian, Kimbte
16 Oct 1987 · 191 km away · intensity VIII
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1979M6.2
E, Mt Hagen
25 Jun 1979 · 290 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.