Strong mag. 6.6 earthquake - New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea, on Wednesday, 27 February 1980 at 21:17 (GMT)

Strong mag. 6.6 earthquake - New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea, on Wednesday, 27 February 1980 at 21:17 (GMT)

Strong magnitude 6.6 earthquake at 53 km depth

Date & time: 27 Feb 1980 21:17:20 UTC
Magnitude: 6.6
Depth: 53.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 6.017°S / 150.189°E (Papua New Guinea)
Nearest volcano: Oto Group (56 km / 35 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
52 km (32 mi) S of Kimbe (Talasea District) (pop: 18,800) --> See nearby quakes!
74 km (46 mi) ENE of Kandrian (pop: 1,010) --> See nearby quakes!
296 km (184 mi) SW of Kokopo (pop: 26,300) --> See nearby quakes!
298 km (185 mi) SW of Rabaul (pop: 8,070) --> See nearby quakes!
362 km (225 mi) ENE of Lae (pop: 76,300) --> See nearby quakes!
374 km (233 mi) NE of Popondetta (Sohe) (pop: 28,200) --> See nearby quakes!
389 km (242 mi) S of Kavieng (pop: 14,500) --> See nearby quakes!
411 km (255 mi) ENE of Wau (pop: 14,600) --> See nearby quakes!
414 km (257 mi) ENE of Bulolo (pop: 16,000) --> See nearby quakes!
510 km (317 mi) NE of Port Moresby (pop: 283,700) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 5 x 1014 joules (139 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 1.2 x 105 tons of TNT or 7.5 atomic bombs!) More info
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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.
MagnitudeDepthLocationSource
M 6.653 kmNew Britain region, Papua New GuineaUSGS
Note: for quakes of 2012 and earlier, our database often contains only records from USGS.

User reports for this quake

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
There are no user reports for this quake yet. If you felt it be the first to report it!
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Aftershocks of the 6.6 quake New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea, 27 February 1980 21:17 GMT

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (29 quakes):
  • 24 Aug 1980 09:15 UTC
    | M 3.6 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    73 km (45 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 22 Aug 1980 17:50 UTC
    | M 4.9 |
    151 km (93.8 mi) depth
    |
    117 km (73 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    16644 km (10342 mi) distance
    | | Details
  • 13 Aug 1980 17:32 UTC
    | M 5.3 |
    169 km (105 mi) depth
    |
    116 km (72 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 13 Jun 1980 23:49 UTC
    | M 3.9 |
    67 km (41.6 mi) depth
    |
    68 km (42 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    16644 km (10342 mi) distance
    | | Details
  • 28 May 1980 04:04 UTC
    | M 4.5 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    74 km (46 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    16644 km (10342 mi) distance
    | | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    16644 km (10342 mi) distance
    | | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    16644 km (10342 mi) distance
    | | Details
  • 24 May 1980 10:08 UTC
    | M 5.5 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    11 km (7 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 24 May 1980 10:07 UTC
    | M 4.6 |
    46 km (28.6 mi) depth
    |
    27 km (17 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    16644 km (10342 mi) distance
    | | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    16644 km (10342 mi) distance
    | | Details
  • 18 Apr 1980 08:47 UTC
    | M 4.4 |
    59 km (36.7 mi) depth
    |
    36 km (23 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    16644 km (10342 mi) distance
    | | Details
    • Show all

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Earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900

Strong mag. 6.6 earthquake - New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea, on Wednesday, 27 February 1980 at 21:17 (GMT)

Map of earlier quakes

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