Major magnitude 7.8 earthquake - 72 km southeast of Wallis Island, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, on Sunday, September 29, 1946 at 03:02 GMT
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Major magnitude 7.8 earthquake at 50 km depth
Earthquake details
Date & time | Sep 29, 1946 03:02:06 UTC |
Local time at epicenter | |
Status | Confirmed |
Magnitude | 7.8 |
Depth | 50.0 km |
Epicenter latitude / longitude | 5.158°S / 153.379°E ![]() |
Antipode | 5.158°N / 26.621°W |
Shaking intensity | Very strong shaking near epicenter |
Felt | 0 reports |
Primary data source | USGS (United States Geological Survey) |
Nearest volcano | Ambitle (124 km / 77 mi) |
Nearby towns and cities | 153 km (95 mi) SE of Kokopo (pop: 26,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 172 km (107 mi) SE of Rabaul (pop: 8,070) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 266 km (165 mi) WNW of Panguna (pop: 2,920) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 270 km (168 mi) WNW of Arawa (pop: 40,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 311 km (193 mi) NW of Buin (pop: 750) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 362 km (225 mi) E of Kimbe (Talasea District) (pop: 18,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 406 km (252 mi) SE of Kavieng (pop: 14,500) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 504 km (313 mi) NW of Gizo (New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands) (pop: 6,150) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 838 km (521 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 | 50 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
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Recorded aftershocks, latest first (0 quake)
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