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Strong mag. 6.5 earthquake - Bismarck Sea, 109 km northwest of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea, on Wednesday, Mar 1, 2023 at 3:36 pm (GMT +10) -

Strong magnitude 6.5 earthquake at 599 km depth

1 Mar 05:43 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 7 minutes.
1 Mar 05:44: Magnitude recalculated from 6.2 to 6.1. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 597.0 to 598.0 km (from 371 to 372 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 5.5 km (3.4 mi) towards SW.
... [show all] ...
1 Mar 05:55: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 583.0 to 598.9 km (from 362 to 372 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 13 km (7.8 mi) towards W.

Update Wed, 1 Mar 2023, 05:54

Magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes near Kimbe, Talasea District, West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea

6.5 quake 1 Mar 3:36 pm (GMT +10)

A very deep magnitude 6.5 earthquake was reported early afternoon near Kimbe, Talasea District, West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake hit on Wednesday, March 1st, 2023, at 3:36 pm local time at a great depth of 583 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.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from Geoscience Australia (GeoAu) which listed the quake at magnitude 6.5 as well. Other agencies reporting the same quake include Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) at magnitude 6.4, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) at magnitude 6.3, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) at magnitude 6.2, and the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake at magnitude 6.5.
Generally quakes of this magnitude are recorded by more than one agency and the results can vary, with subsequent reports that come in after the first one often showing more accuracy.
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 Kimbe (pop. 18,800) located 103 km from the epicenter, and Kandrian (pop. 1000) 157 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 & time	Mar 1, 2023 05:36:15 UTC -
Local time at epicenter	Wednesday, Mar 1, 2023 at 3:36 pm (GMT +10)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	6.5
Depth	598.9 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	4.8138°S / 149.487°E (Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea)
Antipode	4.814°N / 30.513°W
Shaking intensity	Very weak shaking
Felt	1 report
Primary data source	USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Nearest volcano	Garove (14 km / 9 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	109 km (68 mi) NW of Kimbe (Talasea District) (pop: 18,800) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 155 km (96 mi) N of Kandrian (pop: 1,010) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 288 km (179 mi) SSW of Kavieng (pop: 14,500) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 304 km (189 mi) WSW of Rabaul (pop: 8,070) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 313 km (194 mi) W of Kokopo (pop: 26,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 348 km (216 mi) NE of Lae (pop: 76,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 412 km (256 mi) NE of Bulolo (pop: 16,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 579 km (360 mi) NNE of Port Moresby (pop: 283,700) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 176 km (109 mi) NW of New Britain Island (pop: 513,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Light Rain 28°C (82 F), humidity: 78%, wind: 7 m/s (13 kts) from WNW
Estimated seismic energy released	3.5 x 10¹⁴ joules (98.6 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 84802 tons of TNT or 5.3 atomic bombs!) \| about seismic energy

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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.	Depth	Location	Source
6.5	599 km	108 Km NW of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea	USGS
6.5	599 km	Papua New Guinea: Bismarck Sea	RaspberryShake
6.5	594 km	Papua New Guinea: Bismarck Sea	GFZ
6.5	599 km	Papua New Guinea: BISMARCK SEA	EMSC
6.4	593 km	Papua New Guinea [Sea]	INGV
6.6	589 km	Papua New Guinea: Bismarck Sea	GeoAu
6.5	10 km	Papua New Guinea: Bismarck Sea	IRIS
6.2	593 km	Papua New Guinea: Near Lae	RENASS

Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in Papua New Guinea

Seismograms

Seismic station: Tucson, Arizona (TUC/IU network) | Distance from quake: 11207 km / 6964 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

User reports for this quake (2)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.

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Ukarumpa (433.2 km WSW of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Very smooth movement, felt more like dizziness than movement, but the curtains swayed too. | 11 users found this interesting.

Port Moresby / not felt (reported through our app)

Aftershocks

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Recorded aftershocks, latest first (0 quake)

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