M5.3 earthquake 87 km SSE of Vanimo, Papua New Guinea
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 87 km SSE of Vanimo, Papua New Guinea on Wed, Apr 5, 1978, 1:20 PM GMT+9 (04:20 UTC), 33 km (21 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.3 (mb), moderate
- Local time
- UTC
- 1978-04-05 04:20:32 UTC
- Depth
- 33.0 km (20.5 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 3.430° S, 141.558° E
- Region
- Papua New Guinea
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Depth from
- OPERATOR_ASSIGNED
- Stations used
- 51
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.3 and up: 3 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.
After
Earthquakes todayPapua New Guinea earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0000txd (also filed as iscgem683291). Read Tue, Sep 29, 2026, 1:34 PM UTC.