Magnitude 5.4 earthquake near Arawa, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, was reported just 19 minutes ago by the German Geoscience Research Center (GFZ), considered one of the leading agencies organizations that monitor seismic activity around the world. The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 10 km below the epicenter around noon on Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 1:17 p.m. local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter and depth of the quake could be revised in the coming hours or minutes, as seismologists review the data and refine their calculations, or when other agencies release their report.
A second report was later released by the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency, which also listed it as a magnitude 5.4 earthquake. Other agencies reporting the same earthquake include the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) at magnitude 5.1 and France’s National Seismic Monitoring Network (RéNaSS) at magnitude 5.2.
Based on preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused significant damage, but was likely felt by many as a slight vibration in the epicenter area.
Weak tremors could have been felt in Buin (750 inhabitants) located 105 km from the epicenter, Panguna (2,900 inhabitants) at 113 km, Arawa (40,300 inhabitants) at 126 km and Kieta (3,600 inhabitants) at 132 km.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update the magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant earthquake news becomes available. If you are in the region, please share your experience with us through our reporting mechanism, online or through our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone in the world who is interested in learning more about this earthquake.

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Date and hour : October 2, 2021 02:17:13 UTC –
Local time at epicenter: Saturday October 2, 2021 1:17 p.m. (GMT +11)
Size: 5.5
Depth: 10.0 km

Latitude / longitude of epicenter: 7.06 ° S / 154.79 ° E↗ (Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea)
Antipode: 7.06 ° N / 25.21 ° W↗
Nearest volcano: Loloru (110 km)

Nearby towns and villages:
105 km (65 mi) WW of Buin (pop: 750) -> See nearby earthquakes!
113 km (70 mi) southwest of Panguna (pop: 2,920) -> Watch the earthquakes nearby!
126 km (78 mi) southwest of Arawa (pop: 40,300) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
254 km (158 mi) to WNW of Gizo (New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands) (pop: 6,150) -> See nearby earthquakes!
411 km (256 mi) southeast of Kokopo (pop: 26,300) -> See earthquakes nearby!
431 km (268 mi) southeast of Rabaul (pop: 8,070) -> Watch the earthquakes nearby!
883 km (548 mi) ENE from Port Moresby (pop: 283,700) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!

Main data source: GFZ (German Geoscience Research Center)

Estimated energy released: 1.1 x 10¹³ joules (3.12 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 2682 tonnes of TNT or 0.2 atomic bombs!) More info

Based on its magnitude, the fault that was active during the earthquake ruptured over an area of ​​approx. 32 km² (= 12 square miles) as a first-rate estimate. The length of the rupture zone was therefore probably about 10 km (6 mi).
Aftershocks typically occur during the days and weeks following the earthquake at or near the same fault, at distances of up to approx. twice the length of the rupture zone.
The often largely linear arrangement of aftershocks epicenters encompasses the main shock rupture zone (check the map below to verify).

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