Major mag. 7.4 earthquake - New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea on Thursday, 23 April 1953
1 Jan 00:00 UTC: First to report: USGS after 17 years.
Magnitude: 7.4
Depth: 35.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 4.449°S / 152.868°E
(Papua New Guinea)Nearest volcano: Rabaul (Tavurvur) (76 km / 47 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
68 km (42 mi) E of Kokopo (pop: 26,300)
83 km (51 mi) SE of Rabaul (pop: 8,100)
Primary data source: USGS
Estimated released energy: 7.9 x 1015 joules (2206 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 1.9 x 106 tons of TNT or 118.7 atomic bombs!) [learn more]
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.
| Time | Mag. / Depth | Location | Source |
| Thu, 1 Jan 00:00 UTC | M |
User reports for this quake
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (modified Mercalli) scale.
There are no user reports for this quake yet. If you felt it or were nearby when it occurred, be the first to report it!
Aftershocks of the 7.4 quake: New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea, 23 Apr 1953 16h24
Show info about this
List of recorded aftershocks, latest first (5 quakes):- 28 Dec 1954 01:00 UTC| M 6.3 |35 km (21.7 mi) depth|21 km (13 mi) distance| USGS | Strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, 28 December 1954
- 04 Dec 1954 07:00 UTC| M 6.3 |35 km (21.7 mi) depth|56 km (35 mi) distance| USGS | Strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea on Saturday, 4 December 1954
- 19 May 1954 23:07 UTC| M 6.2 |35 km (21.7 mi) depth|111 km (69 mi) distance| USGS | Strong mag. 6.2 earthquake - New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea on Wednesday, 19 May 1954
- 05 Feb 1954 09:19 UTC| M 6.7 |35 km (21.7 mi) depth|45 km (28 mi) distance| USGS | Strong mag. 6.7 earthquake - New Ireland Region, Papua New Guinea on Friday, 5 February 1954
- 25 Aug 1953 02:04 UTC| M 6.3 |30 km (18.6 mi) depth|88 km (55 mi) distance| USGS | Strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, 25 August 1953
Map of aftershocks
Significant earthquakes in the same area since 1900
Major mag. 7.4 earthquake - New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea on Thursday, 23 April 1953Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900!
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