M6.0 earthquake 129 km S of Kokopo, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck 129 km S of Kokopo, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea at 04:45 local time (18:45 UTC) on 14 Oct 2026, at a depth of 22 km, according to USGS, GFZ and INGV.

Reported by 3 agencies · revised from M5.6 · 1 reports to USGS “Did You Feel It?”

Data: USGS, GFZ, INGV · updated 2026-10-26 20:18 UTC · reviewed

Magnitude: 6.0strong
moment magnitude (W phase) (mww)
revised from 5.6
Depth: 21.8 km
Status: Reviewed
Origin time: 2026-10-13 18:45:03 UTC; Local: 14 Oct 2026, 04:45:03 (Pacific/Port Moresby)
Epicentre: 5.497° S, 152.150° E

Circles show this event and others within 126 km from 7 days before to 30 days after. Lines: plate boundaries and GEM active faults. Open on the live map

Nearby places

Distance and estimated shaking at nearby places
Place	Distance	Est. shaking
KokopoEast New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea · pop. 26,273	129 km	IVLight
RabaulEast New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea · pop. 8,074	144 km	IVLight

Shaking is an estimate from the intensity prediction equation of Allen, Wald & Worden (2012), not an observation. Local ground and buildings can change it by a level or more. Likely felt out to about 375 km.

Every agency's solution

Agencies locate earthquakes with their own stations and methods, so their numbers differ. We match reports of the same event by time, distance and magnitude and show them side by side. The headline uses USGS, which has been reviewed by an analyst.

Agency	Magnitude	Depth	Epicentre	Time offset	Status
GFZGFZ via GEOFON, GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences	6.0 Mwwas 5.9	27.4 km	5.41° S, 152.03° E	+1.7 s	Automatic · 3 revisions
INGVSURVEY-INGV-A via Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia	6.1 Mwp	14.8 km	5.44° S, 152.15° E	+1.8 s	Automatic
USGSheadlineUSGS NEIC via U.S. Geological Survey	6.0 mww	21.8 km	5.50° S, 152.15° E	–	Reviewed · 1 revision

How big was it?

Can cause damage over tens of kilometres, depending on depth, local ground and how buildings are built.

It released roughly the energy of 15 kt of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step means about 32 times more energy and 10 times larger waves on a seismogram. Depth matters too: at 22 km this was a shallow earthquake, which is felt more strongly at the surface than a deeper one of the same size.

Compare M6.0 with M5.0

M6.0 releases about 32× the energy of M5.0, and its waves are about 10× taller on a seismogram. Energy: 15 kt of TNT vs 477 t of TNT.

Each square is the energy of one M5.0. Energy from log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8.

Aftershocks and nearby activity

10 later earthquakes within 126 km; the largest was M5.1 8 days ago. 5 in the 7 days before. Aftershock rates usually fall off roughly in proportion to 1/time.

Aftershocks

Mainshock M6.0

10 later earthquakes nearby. Aftershock rates typically fall off roughly as 1/time (Omori's law).

Aftershocks
Time after mainshock (hours)	Magnitude	Depth (km)
2.42	4.5	10
3.03	4.6	10
8.24	4.7	10
11.70	4.9	35
123.35	4.7	10
123.78	5.1	10
147.96	4.9	76
163.60	4.5	57
202.65	4.8	57
217.33	5.0	10

Did you feel it?

Reports from people help show where shaking was strong. They are anonymous and shown here in aggregate.

Reports on SeismoAtlas

No reports yet.

USGS “Did You Feel It?” has 1 reports: add yours at USGS.

Event id gfz2026ucdm. First recorded here 13 Oct 2026, 18:53:58 UTC. Solutions: GFZ (geofon:gfz2026ucdm); INGV (ingv:47527052); USGS (usgs:us6000u24c). Cite as: SeismoAtlas, “M6.0 earthquake 129 km S of Kokopo, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea”, https://seismoatlas.com/earthquake/gfz2026ucdm-m6-0-earthquake-129-km-s-of-kokopo-east-new-britain-province-papua-new-guinea, data from USGS, GFZ, INGV.

JSON: /api/v1/events/gfz2026ucdm. SeismoAtlas is not an official warning service.