March 27, 1984 Earthquake: Karkar, Papua New Guinea
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck Karkar, Papua New Guinea on March 27, 1984 at 20:06:33 UTC, 28 km below the surface.
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
- March 27, 1984
- Time
- 20:06:33 UTC
- Place
- Karkar, Papua New Guinea
- Magnitude
- 6.6 (Ms)
- Focal depth
- 28 km (17 mi)
- Intensity
- 8 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 4.647° S, 145.805° E
- Country
- Papua New Guinea
The toll
- Injuries
- 11
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- September 6, 1988, Kaiapit (Landslide Generated), Papua New Guinea
- October 13, 1993, Upper Markham Valley, Eastern, Papua New Guinea
- September 10, 2022, Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea
- October 31, 1970, Madang, Papua New Guinea
- June 25, 1979, E, MT Hagen, Papua New Guinea
- September 30, 1930, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea
- 1873, Maclay Coast, Papua New Guinea
- October 7, 2023, Madang, Papua New Guinea
- August 3, 1916, N Coast, Papua New Guinea
- April 17, 1857, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea
More
Significant earthquakes of 1984The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1984Recent 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 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 5029.