M3.7 earthquake 16 km ESE of Madang, Papua New Guinea

Sunday, January 25, 1998, 16:24:20 UTC · 5.267°S, 145.930°E

A magnitude 3.7 earthquake struck 16 km ESE of Madang, Papua New Guinea on Sunday, January 25, 1998, 16:24:20 UTC, at a depth of 94.5 km (intermediate).

Magnitude: 3.7; Minor · mb
Depth: 95 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 earthquake

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

5 tons of TNT

That is about 1/2,814 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 89 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

72 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

95 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 has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 814 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 19 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 155 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1988M4.3
Kaiapit (Landslide Generated)
6 Sep 1988 · 94 km away
74 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
1993M6.9
Eastern: Upper Markham Valley
13 Oct 1993 · 70 km away
60 deaths$5 million damage
1970M7.3
Madang
31 Oct 1970 · 65 km away · intensity VIII
18 deaths$2 million damagetsunami
1987M7.6
Huon Peninsula, Umboi Island
8 Feb 1987 · 215 km away · intensity VII
3 deaths$3 million damagetsunami
1857M8.0
Bismarck Sea
17 Apr 1857 · 121 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1873M8.0
Maclay Coast
1873 · 27 km away · intensity IX
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

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

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