October 2, 1906 Earthquake: Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea

Name: October 2, 1906 Earthquake: Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea
Start: 1906-10-02
Location: Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea

October 2, 1906 · M7.2

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea on October 2, 1906 at 01:50 UTC. It caused a tsunami.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date: October 2, 1906
Time: 01:50 UTC
Place: Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea
Magnitude: 7.2 (Mw)
Magnitude scales: Mw 7.2 · Ms 7.2
Tsunami: Yes: the tsunami it caused
Epicenter: 4.000° S, 149.000° E
Country: Papua New Guinea
Region: Central and South Pacific

Mw: moment magnitude, based on the slip on the fault and the area that slipped. Ms: surface-wave magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The toll

Damage: Limited (under about $1 million)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

Reference #414:

1906, October 2, at 11:35 a.m. [local time]. The strongest aftershock of the earthquake on Sept 14, 1906, occurred. It affected an enormous area, at least from Buna to Astrolabe Bay. In Finsh Harbor, the force of tremors was 7-8 degrees (VIII-IX Rossi-Forel). At Buna, the earthquake lasted 3 minutes and caused some destruction. This earthquake was again followed by tidal waves, which lasted a little less than 2 hours in Finsh Harbor.

Reference #99:

The earthquake affected the area from Sattelburg to Astrolabe bay and was even noticed on the French islands.

Reference #9910:

ABE 1906, Oct 2, 01:50:00 UTC, 4 S, 149 E, 7.2 Mw P&S, 7.2 Ms AN2, 7.1 Ms P&S, 7.7 UK B&D.

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

#88 Duda, Seweryn J. (1965). Secular seismic energy release in the circum-Pacific belt. Tectonophysics, vol. 2, no. 5, p. 409-452. DOI:10.1016/0040-1951(65)90035-1
#414 Soloviev, S.L., and Ch.N. Go (1974). A catalogue of tsunamis on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean [dates include 173-1968. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Nauka Publishing House, Moscow, 439 p. [Canadian Translation of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences no. 5077, 1984, translation available from Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, National Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A OS2, 447 p.]
#99 Everingham, I.B. (1977). Preliminary catalogue of tsunamis: New Guinea/Solomon Islands region, 1768-1972. BMR Report 180, Bureau of Mineral Resources, Australia, 71 p.
#9910 Engdahl, E.R., R. van der Hilst, R. Buland (2012). Centennial Earthquake Catalog. Retrieved August 11, 2011 from link

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1906 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1906 Recent earthquakes near here This day in weather history

Sources

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 2787.