M6.4 earthquake in Papua New Guinea on September 20, 2026

Strong M6.4 quake: September 20, 2026, 09:17 UTC, epicenter 50 km north of Kainantu. The rupture began 113 km below the surface. The focus was at intermediate depth, which softens the shaking at the surface compared with a shallow quake of the same size.

6.4magnitude

113 kmdepth

09:17time UTC

greenUSGS alert

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Key facts

30 people reported feeling it to USGS. The USGS PAGER system issued a green alert, expecting little impact.

Nearest cities

Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea)414 km
Merauke (Indonesia)692 km
Jayapura (Indonesia)705 km
Timika (Indonesia)1,054 km
Manokwari (Indonesia)1,449 km

Did you feel an earthquake?

Report it to seismologists. These reports help work out quickly where the shaking was strongest. It takes a minute.

Report to USGS (Did You Feel It?)Report to EMSC (LastQuake)

Aftershocks

Since then USGS has recorded 6 quakes of magnitude 4.5 or more within 150 km, the strongest M5.4.

M5.4 · Sep 20, 12:45 UTC15 km
M5.3 · Sep 24, 23:30 UTC145 km
M5.2 · Oct 25, 03:29 UTC121 km
M4.9 · Oct 4, 01:38 UTC136 km
M4.8 · Oct 18, 00:28 UTC68 km
M4.6 · Oct 3, 17:24 UTC133 km

Regional history

Since 1976 there have been 126 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 300 km. The strongest was M7.6 (September 10, 2022).

M7.6 · September 10, 202262 km
M7.4 · February 8, 1987176 km
M7.2 · December 22, 1997200 km
M7.2 · May 15, 1992163 km
M7.2 · June 24, 1986289 km