April 1, 2002 Earthquake: Morobe, Papua New Guinea
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Morobe, Papua New Guinea on April 1, 2002 at 06:14:15 UTC, 80 km below the surface. It killed 36 people.
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
- April 1, 2002
- Time
- 06:14:15 UTC
- Place
- Morobe, Papua New Guinea
- Magnitude
- 5.3 (Mw)
- Focal depth
- 80 km (50 mi)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 6.191° S, 147.421° E
- Country
- Papua New Guinea
The toll
- Deaths
- 36
- Injuries
- 11
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.
The landslide in the early hours of Tuesday, 2 April in the Wantoat area of Markham District in Morobe Province, 79 km Northwest of Lae, is now known to have killed 36 people, although only nine bodies have been recovered. Eleven people were injured, two of them seriously, and one was airlifted to Lae for treatment. The landslide was probably caused by some weeks of heavy rain, though an earthquake of 5.3 magnitude (Richter Scale) on Monday, 2 April at 1615 hours (local time) may have contributed to the instability of the slope. The landslide covered about 1 sq. km and it struck two coffee plantation hamlets 6km Northeast of Wantoat District Station, completely burying 12 houses. The area is remote, inaccessible, and highly prone to landslides (reference #14035)
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
- February 8, 1987, Huon Peninsula, Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea
- July 17, 2020, Morobe, Oro, Papua New Guinea
- May 12, 1938, Papua New Guinea
- 1875, Maclay Coast, Papua New Guinea
- August 2, 1969, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea
- April 17, 1857, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea
- September 25, 1971, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea
- October 11, 1913, Papua New Guinea
- May 6, 1947, New Britain, Papua New Guinea
- May 6, 2019, Wampar, Morobe, Papua New Guinea
- October 19, 1899, Bismrack Sea, Papua New Guinea
- September 17, 1900, Rabaul Harbor, Papua New Guinea
More
Significant earthquakes of 2002The 2000sEvery quake the USGS located in 2002Recent 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 10862.