Major magnitude 7.8 earthquake - 170 km east of Kokopo, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, on Tuesday, May 6, 1919 at 19:41 GMT
Quake Data | Interactive map | User Reports | Aftershocks | Earlier quakes here | Quakes in Papua New Guinea | Quakes in Solomon Islands | East New Britain Province | Bougainville | West New Britain Province | New Ireland | Western Province | National Capital


Major magnitude 7.8 earthquake at 35 km depth
Earthquake details
Date & time | May 6, 1919 19:41:14 UTC |
Local time at epicenter | |
Status | Confirmed |
Magnitude | 7.8 |
Depth | 35.0 km |
Epicenter latitude / longitude | 4.852°S / 153.714°E ![]() |
Antipode | 4.852°N / 26.286°W |
Shaking intensity | Very strong shaking near epicenter |
Felt | 0 reports |
Primary data source | USGS (United States Geological Survey) |
Nearest volcano | Ambitle (86 km / 53 mi) |
Nearby towns and cities | 170 km (106 mi) ESE of Kokopo (pop: 26,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 187 km (116 mi) ESE of Rabaul (pop: 8,070) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 255 km (158 mi) NW of Panguna (pop: 2,920) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 256 km (159 mi) NW of Arawa (pop: 40,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 304 km (189 mi) NW of Buin (pop: 750) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 404 km (251 mi) E of Kimbe (Talasea District) (pop: 18,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 411 km (256 mi) SE of Kavieng (pop: 14,500) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 500 km (311 mi) NW of Gizo (New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands) (pop: 6,150) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 888 km (552 mi) NE of Port Moresby (pop: 283,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby |
Estimated seismic energy released | 3.2 x 1016 joules (8784 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 7.6 x 106 tons of TNT or 472.4 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy |
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 |
7.8 | 35 km | New Ireland region, Papua New Guinea | USGS |
User reports for this quake
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
Aftershocks
Please check again later while we are collecting more data.Earlier earthquakes in the same area
Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900!