Overall Orange Earthquake in New Britain Region, P.N.G. on 14 May 2019 12:58 UTC

GDACS is a cooperation framework between the United Nations, the European Commission and disaster managers worldwide to improve awareness, information exchange and coordination in the first phase after major sudden-onset disasters.

M 7.5 Earthquake and Tsunami (1.2 m) in New Britain Region, P.N.G. on 14 May 2019 12:58 UTC

Event summary

This earthquake can have a medium humanitarian impact based on the magnitude and the affected population and their vulnerability.

GDACS ID	EQ 1179441
Earthquake Magnitude:	7.5M
Glide number:	EQ-2019-000045-PNG
Depth:	10 Km
Lat/Lon:	-4.081 , 152.5694
Event Date:	14 May 2019 12:58 UTC 14 May 2019 22:58 Local
Exposed Population:	Less than 100 people in MMI VIII 240000 people within 100km
Inserted at:	15 May 2019 13:07 UTC
INFORM Coping capacity:	7.6 (Papua New Guinea)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.

	Earthquake (Shakemap)		Tsunami		GDACS score
NEIC	1.4		1		1.4
us70003kyy	Scaled population (raster)	3.23	Max wave alert	1.16m
	C1 shakemap	-0.59	Max wave realtime	1.16m
	C2 shakemap	0.53
	Country Vulnerability	0
	INFORM_normalised	1.3

Maximum expected impact using different data sources.

Virtual OSOCC

Meteo assessment

Satellite products

Analytical products

Papua New Guinea - 7.5 M Earthquake (ECHO 15 May 2019)Wed, 15 May 2019 13:06

An earthquake of 7.5 M at a depth of 10 km occurred off eastern Papua New Guinea on 14 May at 12.58 UTC. The epicentre was 4.5 km west of southern New Ireland Island and 43 km north-east of Kokopo town (New Britain Island). Up to 31,000 people were exposed to very strong shaking and up to 229,000 to strong shaking.
Two aftershocks of 5 M, occurred in the same area at a depth of 10 km and 9 km.
A tsunami threat was issued by the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center for Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands but was later lifted.
As of 15 May at 8.00 UTC, there are no reported casualties but power outages have been experienced in districts close to the epicentre.
Over the next 24 hours, light to moderate rain is forecast over New Ireland and New Britain Islands.

Detailed event map. European Union, 2026. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

Latest media headlines

View more news

Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Analytical products

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (90), NEIC (5), OCHA (1), WMO (2), USGS (5), (3), INFORM (4),

Disclaimer - Copyright
While we try everything to ensure accuracy, this information is purely indicative and should not be used for any decision making without alternate sources of information.
The JRC is not responsible for any damage or loss resulting from the use of the information presented on this website.
The designations employed and the presentation of material on the map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the European Union concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.