M4.5 earthquake 168 km ESE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea

Tuesday, September 12, 1995, 00:05:20 UTC · 4.785°S, 153.722°E

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 168 km ESE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, September 12, 1995, 00:05:20 UTC, at a depth of 104.9 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.6 on September 8, 1995.

Magnitude: 4.5; Light · mb
Depth: 105 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

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

64 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: intermediate

105 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 M5.2 on October 3, 1995. 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 1,384 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 33 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 526 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1937
Keravia, Rabaul, Kokopo
28 May 1937 · 178 km away · intensity VIII
507 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1983M6.4
Ulawun, Rabaul
22 Dec 1983 · 216 km away · intensity V
10 deaths$25 million damage
1941M7.4
Bismarck Sea
13 Jan 1941 · 195 km away
4 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1971M7.9
New Ireland: Bougainville
14 Jul 1971 · 82 km away · intensity IX
3 deathsUnder $1 million damagetsunami
1989M5.4
New Britain: Rabaul
10 Mar 1989 · 114 km away · intensity V
1 death
1878
Bismarck Sea
4 Feb 1878 · 174 km away
1 deathtsunami

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

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