Significant earthquakes of 1970

October 31, 1970 Earthquake: Madang, Papua New Guinea

October 31, 1970 · M7.3 · 18 deaths · $1.8 million · 800 houses destroyed

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Madang, Papua New Guinea on October 31, 1970 at 17:53:07 UTC, 8 km below the surface. It killed 18 people, counting the tsunami it caused.

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 31, 1970
Time
17:53:07 UTC
Place
Madang, Papua New Guinea
Magnitude
7.3 (Ms)
Magnitude scales
Ms 7.3 · mb 7.1
Focal depth
8 km (5 mi)
Intensity
VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Epicenter
4.907° S, 145.471° E
Region
Central and South Pacific

Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The toll

Deaths
15; 18 with its tsunami and other effects
Injuries
20
Damage
$1.8 million
Houses destroyed
800
Houses damaged
800

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.

From Wikipedia

On October 31 at 17:53 UTC (November 1 at 03:53 AEST) the island of New Guinea was shaken by an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 Mw that particularly affected the city of Madang on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. Causing between five and eighteen fatalities, it triggered landslides that ran down steep hills into poorly reinforced wooden huts. The area that experienced the most powerful intensity extended 20 kilometers (12 mi) out from the epicenter. Underwater landslides caused minor tsunami over about 100 km of coast and severed underwater cables in several places.

Text from Wikipedia, “1970 New Guinea earthquake”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted as written; the full article has the rest.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

October 31, 1970, 17:53:09.3 UTC, 4.9 S, 145.5 E, Near north coast of New Guinea, magnitude 7.0 MS, depth 42 km.. At least five killed. Considerable damage at Mandang. Felt throughout mainland of New Guinea. (reference #45)

October 31, 1970, 17:53:09.3 UTC, 4.9 S, 145.5 E, 7.1 mb, 7.3 MS. (reference #1229)

A strong earthquake occurred in New Guinea about 30 km north of Madang and was felt on the entire island of New Guinea.

The maximum intensity of 8 points and over (MM) occurred within the zone about 20 km from the epicenter. Intensities of 7 points and above were felt 70 km from the epicenter and in distant places outside of this zone. An intensity of 3 points was noted at 500 km from the epicenter.

Fifteen people died and about 20 were injured, mainly as a result of landslides and destruction of wooden huts. Six deaths were due to landslides in localities 150 km south of the epicenter. In the region where the intensity was 8 points and above, the very steepness of the slopes of the hilly terrain facilitated landslides. About 800 wooden, bamboo, and reed/wooden houses were damaged by tremors. Some of the wooden houses and yards were destroyed by the landslides.

Madang, with a population of 11,000 was significantly damaged. Mainly nonreinforced houses and galvanized-iron water tanks were affected. 45% of these water tanks became unserviceable.

In the vicinity of the source, the sea initially receded from the coast followed by a 3 m rise in water level.

(above from Reference #417)

Reference #1250 lists $1.75 million damage.

1970, Oct 31, 17:53:07.07 UTC. 4.907 S, 145.471 E, depth 8.1 km, magnitude 7.3 unknown. (reference #9910)

1970, Oct 31, 17:53:14.72 UTC. 4.999 S, 145.396 E, depth 60 km, magnitude 6.9 Mw. (reference #10476)

Sources NCEI cites

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

  1. #417 Soloviev, S L., Ch. N. Go, and Kh. S. Kim (1992). Catalog of tsunamis in the Pacific, 1969-1982. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 208 p. Translated from Russian by Amerind Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India, 1988 [Originally published in Russian in 1986].
  2. #45 U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (1928-1986). United States Earthquakes, Annual publication, published 1928-1986. vol.s for 1928-1965 issued by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey; volumes for 1966-1969 issued by the National Earthquake Information Center; volume for 1970 issued by the National Geophysical Data Center; volumes for 1971-1972 issued by the National Geophysical And Solar-Terrestrial Data Center; volumes for 1973-1980 published jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey; volumes for 1981-1986 published by the U.S. Geological Survey. [on shelf]
  3. #3384 Advisory Committee on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (1973). Madang 1970 Earthquake. Geological Survey, Papua New Guinea, Memoir 2., 118 p.
  4. #1229 Bath, M., and S.J. Duda (1979). Some Aspects of Global Seismicity, Report no. 1-79, Seismological Institute, Uppsala, Sweden, 41 p.
  5. #1039 Rothe, J.P. (1966-1973). Annual Summary of Information on Natural Disasters, UNESCO, Paris, France, 1966 (no. 1) through 1973 (no. 8), 612 p.
  6. #1250 Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) (2001). EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, link
  7. #10476 International Seismological Centre (2013). Final Scientific Report of the ISC-GEM Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue, ISC-GEM Global Instrumental earthquake Catalogue (1900-2021). Versions 1-12 downloaded beginning 18 March 2013. DOI: 10.31905/D808B825
  8. #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.

More

Significant earthquakes of 1970The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1970Recent earthquakes near hereThis 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 4550. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem791579, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.