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Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - 27 km west of Kokopo, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, on Wednesday, Apr 13, 2022 at 1:00 pm (GMT +10) -

Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - 27 km west of Kokopo, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, on Wednesday, Apr 13, 2022 at 1:00 pm (GMT +10) Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - 27 km west of Kokopo, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, on Wednesday, Apr 13, 2022 at 1:00 pm (GMT +10)

Strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake at 149 km depth

13 Apr 03:08 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 7 minutes.
13 Apr 03:09: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 162.0 to 164.0 km (from 101 to 102 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 3.3 km (2.1 mi) towards N.
13 Apr 03:14: Now using data updates from USGS
14 Apr 22:56: Magnitude recalculated from 5.9 to 6.1. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 146.9 to 149.0 km (from 91 to 93 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 7.3 km (4.6 mi) towards NE.
Update Wed, 13 Apr 2022, 03:15

Moderate yet deep 5.9 quake hits near Kokopo, Kokopo District, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea

5.9 quake 13 Apr 1:00 pm (GMT +10)
5.9 quake 13 Apr 1:00 pm (GMT +10)
An earthquake of magnitude 5.9 occurred around noon on Wednesday, April 13th, 2022, at 1:00 pm local time near Kokopo, Kokopo District, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, as reported by the United States Geological Survey.
According to preliminary data, the quake was located at an intermediate depth of 146.9 km. The strength of the earthquake may have been tempered by its relative great depth below the surface, which makes it feel weaker in absolute terms. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
A second report was later issued by France's Réseau National de Surveillance Sismique (RéNaSS), which listed it as a magnitude 5.9 earthquake as well. Other agencies reporting the same quake include the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) at magnitude 6.0, the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake at magnitude 6.0, and the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) at magnitude 6.3.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Kokopo (pop. 26,300) located 34 km from the epicenter, and Rabaul (pop. 8,100) 34 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.

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Earthquake details

Date & timeApr 13, 2022 03:00:56 UTC -
Local time at epicenterWednesday, Apr 13, 2022 at 1:00 pm (GMT +10)
StatusConfirmed
Magnitude6.1
Depth149.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude4.4089°S / 152.0312°E (East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea)
Antipode4.409°N / 27.969°W
Shaking intensityLight shaking near epicenter
Felt0 reports
Primary data sourceUSGS (United States Geological Survey)
Nearest volcanoRabaul (Tavurvur) (24 km / 15 mi)
Nearby towns and cities27 km (17 mi) WSW of Kokopo (East New Britain) (pop: 26,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
27 km (17 mi) SSW of Rabaul (East New Britain) (pop: 8,070) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
245 km (152 mi) ENE of Kimbe (Talasea District, West New Britain) (pop: 18,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
246 km (153 mi) SE of Kavieng (New Ireland) (pop: 14,500) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
340 km (211 mi) NE of Kandrian (West New Britain) (pop: 1,010) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
437 km (272 mi) WNW of Panguna (Bougainville) (pop: 2,920) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
441 km (274 mi) WNW of Arawa (Bougainville) (pop: 40,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
780 km (484 mi) NE of Port Moresby (National Capital) (pop: 283,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quakeLight Rain 30.1°C (86 F), humidity: 54%, wind: 2 m/s (4 kts) from NNE
Estimated seismic energy released8.9 x 1013 joules (24.8 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 21301 tons of TNT or 1.3 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy
Show interactive Map
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Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies

Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag.DepthLocationSource
6.1149 km27 Km SSW of Rabaul, Papua New GuineaUSGS
5.9149 kmPapua New Guinea: NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.EMSC
5.9147 kmPapua New Guinea: New Britain Region, P.N.G.RaspberryShake
6.0155 km34 Km WSW of Kokopo, Papua New GuineaGFZ
5.8155 kmPapua New Guinea: Near LaeRENASS
6.1151 kmPapua New Guinea [Land]INGV
6.0153 kmPapua New Guinea: New Britain Region, P.N.G.GeoAu

Seismograms

Seismic station: Tucson, Arizona (TUC/IU network) | Distance from quake: 10944 km / 6800 mi | Show on map | Station Info
Seismic station Tucson, Arizona: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)
Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.02-2.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool
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User reports for this quake (2)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
Translate
Kompiam District Enga Province Papua New Guinea / not felt
Lautoka,Fiji Islands / not felt

Aftershocks

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (1 quake)

Date and timeMag
Depth
LocationDetails
May 1, 2022 16:20
48 weeks ago
4.5

132 km
48 km SW of Kokopo, East New Britain Province, Papua New GuineaMore

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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