Earthquake details

Friday, May 20, 1983 Earthquake

The earthquake hit Papua New Guinea on Friday, May 20, 1983 at 13:51 UTC with a magnitude of 5.0. The closest known location in the current dataset is Lae (Papua New Guinea - PG), about 139.7 km away. The epicenter is located at longitude 145.911 and latitude -6.082.

Magnitude	5.0
Alert	Strong
Depth	118.0 km
Coordinates	-6.082, 145.911
UTC time	1983-05-20 13:51:11.960

Location	Lae
Country	Papua New Guinea (PG)
Severity	Strong

Earthquake map 1983-05-20

Closest countries

The 12 closest cities near the epicenter.

Lae	139.7 km
Mount Hagen	187.7 km
Port Moresby	401.9 km
Merauke	664.7 km
Jayapura	698.7 km
Abepura	702.7 km
Wamena	803.0 km
Arawa	1068.7 km
Nabire	1193.9 km
Cairns	1207.0 km
Manokwari	1438.4 km
Tual	1458.0 km

Nearby earthquakes

The latest 8 earthquakes within 100 km of this epicenter.

M 4.8 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-04-04 10:48 UTC	169.5 km
M 4.1 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-03-09 14:54 UTC	133.0 km
M 4.6 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-21 05:03 UTC	88.6 km
M 4.6 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-17 22:52 UTC	169.8 km
M 4.6 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-16 07:36 UTC	143.0 km
M 4.5 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-15 08:53 UTC	81.7 km
M 4.3 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-03 23:50 UTC	203.3 km
M 4.6 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-03 21:24 UTC	78.2 km

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