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M5.8 earthquake 149 km NW of Kavieng, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck 149 km NW of Kavieng, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea at 08:04 local time (22:04 UTC) on 13 Nov 2026, at a depth of 10 km, according to USGS, GFZ and INGV.

Reported by 3 agencies · revised from M5.9

Data: USGS, GFZ, INGV · updated 2026-11-12 22:19 UTC · reviewed

Magnitude
5.8moderate
moment magnitude (W phase) (mww)
revised from 5.9
Depth
10 km
Status
Reviewed
Origin time
2026-11-12 22:04:06 UTC
Local: 13 Nov 2026, 08:04:06 (Pacific/Port Moresby)
Epicentre
1.588° S, 149.888° E

Circles show this event and others within 100 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
PlaceDistanceEst. shaking
KaviengNew Ireland, Papua New Guinea · pop. 14,490149 kmIIIWeak

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 302 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.

AgencyMagnitudeDepthEpicentreTime offsetStatus
GFZGFZ via GEOFON, GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences5.8 Mwas 5.910 km1.58° S, 149.82° E+1.8 sAutomatic · 1 revision
USGSheadlineUSGS NEIC via U.S. Geological Survey5.8 mww10 km1.59° S, 149.89° E–Reviewed
INGVSURVEY-INGV-A via Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia6.0 Mwp10.9 km1.48° S, 149.95° E+1.3 sAutomatic

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How big was it?

Felt by most people over a wide area. Can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre.

It released roughly the energy of 7.6 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 10 km this was a shallow earthquake, which is felt more strongly at the surface than a deeper one of the same size.

M5.8 releases about 32× the energy of M4.8, and its waves are about 10× taller on a seismogram. Energy: 7.6 kt of TNT vs 239 t of TNT.

Each square is the energy of one M4.8. Energy from log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8.

Aftershocks and nearby activity

No later earthquakes have been recorded within 100 km so far. Aftershock rates usually fall off roughly in proportion to 1/time.

Did you feel it?

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

How strong was the shaking where you were?

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Reports on SeismoAtlas

No reports yet.

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Event id gfz2026wffd. First recorded here 12 Nov 2026, 22:12:35 UTC. Solutions: GFZ (geofon:gfz2026wffd); USGS (usgs:us7000txwp); INGV (ingv:47923152). Cite as: SeismoAtlas, “M5.8 earthquake 149 km NW of Kavieng, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea”, https://seismoatlas.com/earthquake/gfz2026wffd-m5-8-earthquake-149-km-nw-of-kavieng-new-ireland-papua-new-guinea, data from USGS, GFZ, INGV.

JSON: /api/v1/events/gfz2026wffd. SeismoAtlas is not an official warning service.