Reviewed by USGSPapua New Guinea25y ago
M4.3 earthquake 219 km SSE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea
Thursday, March 8, 2001, 04:34:42 UTC · 6.259°S, 152.775°E
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck 219 km SSE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea on Thursday, March 8, 2001, 04:34:42 UTC, at a depth of 150.0 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.3
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 150 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
43 tons of TNT
That is about 1/354 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 11 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
64 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the South Bismarck and Solomon Sea plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: intermediate
150 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 1,923 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 · 201 km NE of this epicenter
- 8.11971 Bougainville EarthquakeJuly 26, 1971 · 161 km N of this epicenter
- 8.01971 New Britain EarthquakeJuly 14, 1971 · 149 km NE of this epicenter
- 8.02000 New Ireland EarthquakeNovember 16, 2000 · 262 km N of this epicenter
- 8.060 km SE of Kokopo, Papua New GuineaJanuary 1, 1916 · 168 km N of this epicenter
- 7.956 km WSW of Panguna, Papua New GuineaJuly 20, 1975 · 254 km E of this epicenter
- 7.874 km SSW of Kokopo, Papua New GuineaFebruary 2, 1920 · 166 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.8138 km SSW of Kokopo, Papua New GuineaNovember 17, 2000 · 139 km NW of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 41 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 530 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1937
Keravia, Rabaul, Kokopo
28 May 1937 · 230 km away · intensity VIII
507 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1983M6.4
Ulawun, Rabaul
22 Dec 1983 · 139 km away · intensity V
10 deaths$25 million damage
- 1941M7.4
Bismarck Sea
13 Jan 1941 · 244 km away
4 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1971M7.9
New Ireland: Bougainville
14 Jul 1971 · 150 km away · intensity IX
3 deathsUnder $1 million damagetsunami
- 2000M8.0
New Ireland, Duke Of York
16 Nov 2000 · 256 km away
2 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1996M7.2
Bougainville Island
29 Apr 1996 · 247 km away
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.