Earthquake details

Friday, March 18, 1988 Earthquake

The earthquake hit Papua New Guinea on Friday, March 18, 1988 at 22:51 UTC with a magnitude of 6.2. The closest known location in the current dataset is Lae (Papua New Guinea - PG), about 343.6 km away. The epicenter is located at longitude 146.561 and latitude -3.667.

Magnitude	6.2
Alert	Severe
Depth	33.0 km
Coordinates	-3.667, 146.561
UTC time	1988-03-18 22:51:19.630

Location	Lae
Country	Papua New Guinea (PG)
Severity	Severe

Earthquake map 1988-03-18

Closest countries

The 12 closest cities near the epicenter.

Lae	343.6 km
Mount Hagen	355.4 km
Port Moresby	650.1 km
Jayapura	661.6 km
Abepura	669.7 km
Wamena	846.9 km
Merauke	867.9 km
Arawa	1038.5 km
Nabire	1229.4 km
Manokwari	1424.5 km
Cairns	1478.3 km
Tual	1547.5 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	356.0 km
M 4.1 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-03-09 14:54 UTC	268.7 km
M 4.6 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-21 05:03 UTC	268.5 km
M 4.6 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-17 22:52 UTC	276.4 km
M 4.6 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-16 07:36 UTC	272.1 km
M 4.5 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-15 08:53 UTC	255.4 km
M 4.3 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-03 23:50 UTC	317.2 km
M 4.6 Lae Papua New Guinea · 2026-02-03 21:24 UTC	251.7 km

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