2002 Sandaun earthquake

Earthquake in Papua New Guinea 2002 Papua New Guinea earthquake the earthquake and landslide in Morobe Province 2002 Morobe earthquake and landslide November 2024 2002 Sandaun earthquake 2002 PNG earthquake - ShakeMap.jpg ShakeMap produced by United States Geological Survey Papua New Guinea 2002-09-08 18:44:23 3362959 usp000bbpf yes 2002 09 09 04:44:23 PGT (UTC+10:00) w y 7.6 13 km mi 0 on -3.302 142.945 New Guinea Trench Reverse Sandaun and East Sepik Provinces, Papua New Guinea X 5 m ft on in Victoria BayTsunami Event – PAPUA NEW GUINEA https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/tsunami/related-runups/2398 National Geophysical Data Center 36 ≥w 4.0Strongest: w 6.7 on 10 January 109 ≥w 4.0Strongest: w 6.3 on 16 September 6 dead, 70 injured On 9 September 2002, at 04:44:23 PGT (18:44 UTC on 8 September), a w y 7.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Sandaun Province in Papua New Guinea.M 7.6 – 68 km ESE of Aitape, Papua New Guinea https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usp000bbpf/executive United States Geological Survey The largest earthquake to hit mainland Papua New Guinea since 1938, this shallow reverse earthquake damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings in Sandaun and East Sepik Provinces, mainly in the town of Wewak, killing six people and injuring 70 others. A local tsunami measuring 5 m ft high also caused damage to homes in the region. Tectonic setting The island of New Guinea lies within the complex zone of collision between the Australian plate and the Pacific plate. Within this overall setting, the active tectonics of northern Papua New Guinea is dominate by the effects of continuing collision between the Huon–Finisterre island arc terrane with the edge of the Australian continental margin. The overall shortening is concentrated into two zones of thrust faulting, the Ramu–Markham fault zone, which forms the southwestern boundary of the Huon–Finisterre terrane, and the Highlands Thrust Belt, which lies further southwest and deforms the Australian margin.Abers G.A. McCaffrey R. 1994 Active arc-continent collision: Earthquakes, gravity anomalies, and fault kinematics in the Huon-Finisterre collision zone, Papua New Guinea https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248816208 Tectonics 13 2 227–245 10.1029/93TC02940 1994Tecto..13..227A The hanging wall of the Ramu–Markham thrust system is broken up by a series of strike-slip faults. The orientation of these faults, parallel to the direction of thrusting, suggests that they accommodate distortion of the Huon–Finisterre block. Most of the seismicity in northern Papua New Guinea is associated with the Ramu–Markham fault system, with a smaller number of earthquakes occurring on the strike-slip faults and on the Highlands Thrust Belt. Earthquake Estimated number of people exposed to shaking levels MMI Population exposure10 wikitable 4k9 wikitable 21k8 wikitable 93k7 wikitable 123k6 wikitable 135k The earthquake was the largest in mainland Papua New Guinea since 1938.USGS earthquake catalog United States Geological Survey https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?currentFeatureId=us6000iitd&extent=-9.76268,140.1416&extent=-2.33891,153.50098&range=search&timeZone=utc&search=%7B%22name%22:%22Search%20Results%22,%22params%22:%7B%22starttime%22:%221900-01-01%2000:00:00%22,%22endtime%22:%222025-05-04%2023:59:59%22,%22maxlatitude%22:-1.968,%22minlatitude%22:-11.558,%22maxlongitude%22:151.567,%22minlongitude%22:140.801,%22minmagnitude%22:7.5,%22orderby%22:%22time%22%7D%7D The United States Geological Survey reported a magnitude of l y 7.4, w y 7.6 or e y 7.7. It was caused by a rupture on a low-angle thrust fault in the New Guinea Trench, with the rupture occurring on a steep, northwest-striking reverse fault or on a moderately dipping, southeast-striking reverse fault. A fault measuring 72 km mi in length, and 36 km mi wide ruptured with a maximum slip of 2.1 m ft.Ryan Ruddick Analysis of the 2002 Mw = 7.6 Wewak Earthquake, Papua New Guinea, using Global Positioning System Observations Honours 2005 http://rses.anu.edu.au/geodynamics/gps/papers/ryan_honours05.pdf Australian National University A Modified Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme) was estimated,EXPO-CAT Earthquake Catalog https://earthquake.usgs.gov/static/lfs/data/pager/catalogs/ December 1, 2008 United States Geological Survey Version 2007-12 2 May 2025 with MMI VI (Strong) shaking recorded in Wewak, Kairiru, Ambunti and Angoram in East Sepik, and Aitape in Sandaun; MMI IV-V (Light-Moderate) was estimated to have been felt in Keerom and Jayapura in eastern Indonesia. ShakeMap perimeters estimate that shaking may have been felt as far away as the towns of Lae and Kerema. By the end of 2003, 109 aftershocks measuring w 4.0 or higher were recorded, including three above w 6.0, with most of them occurring east-southeast of the mainshock along the estimated rupture zone.USGS earthquake catalog United States Geological Survey https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?extent=-5.70891,141.27869&extent=-1.98264,147.95837&range=search&sort=oldest&timeZone=utc&search=%7B%22name%22:%22Search%20Results%22,%22params%22:%7B%22endtime%22:%222003-12-31T18:44:23.710Z%22,%22latitude%22:-3.302,%22longitude%22:142.945,%22maxradiuskm%22:160,%22minmagnitude%22:4,%22starttime%22:%222002-09-08T18:44:23.710Z%22%7D%7D The strongest aftershock measured w 6.3 and struck southwest of the mainshock on 16 September.M 6.3 - 41 km ESE of Aitape, Papua New Guinea 2002 usp000bcdg A w 6.2 event also struck Marienberg Rural LLG in February 2003.M 6.2 - 49 km NNE of Angoram, Papua New Guinea 2002 usp000bqj9 Additionally, there were 36 foreshocks preceding the mainshock,USGS earthquake catalog United States Geological Survey https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?extent=-5.74717,140.92163&extent=-2.02107,147.60132&range=search&timeZone=utc&search=%7B%22name%22:%22Search%20Results%22,%22params%22:%7B%22endtime%22:%222002-09-08T18:44:23.710Z%22,%22latitude%22:-3.302,%22longitude%22:142.945,%22maxradiuskm%22:120,%22minmagnitude%22:4,%22starttime%22:%222001-03-14T18:44:23.710Z%22%7D%7D including a w 6.2 event in October 2001,M 6.2 - 67 km ESE of Aitape, Papua New Guinea 2001 usp000aqbn and a w 6.7 event near Aitape in January 2002 that killed one person and destroyed 450 structures.M 6.7 - 11 km SE of Aitape, Papua New Guinea 2002 usp000aw5z Tsunami A tsunami warning was issued for parts of Papua New Guinea. In East Sepik Province, a 5.01 m ft on wave hit the area, destroying several homes. Ten-centimeter waves struck southern Japan. The tsunami was moderate in height; at 1.5 meters along most of the coastline. On several islands however, the run-up was 5 meters. The tsunami's western reach were at Sissano Lagoon and Aitape, which suffered extreme destruction during the 1998 earthquake and tsunami. The high tsunami run-ups in bays were due to the funnel-effect which increased the heights of the waves. Damage and casualties On Kairiru and Mushu islands, as well as in the town of Wewak, 500 homes were destroyed and 200 more were damaged, along with pipelines and a bridge.Wewak schools closed https://postcourier.com.pg/20020911/news01.htm Papua New Guinea Post-Courier https://web.archive.org/web/20020912102211/https://postcourier.com.pg/20020911/news01.htm 12 September 2002 dead All schools in Wewak were temporarily closed. Three were killed when their houses collapsed. Seventy people were injured, 34 of them seriously, and 3,000 others were made homeless. A woman succumbed to her injuries later at hospital.Papua New Guinea – Earthquake OCHA Situation Report No. 2 https://reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/e46823f2b5417d4d85256c39005da52c?OpenDocument ReliefWeb https://web.archive.org/web/20041206010931/https://reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/e46823f2b5417d4d85256c39005da52c?OpenDocument 6 December 2004 deadEarthquake leaves 3,000 homeless https://www.smh.com.au/world/earthquake-leaves-3000-homeless-20020910-gdfmeb.html The Sydney Morning Herald 10 September 2002 Two more people, including a child were killed by the following tsunami.Huge quake hits Papua New Guinea https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2245481.stm BBC News 9 September 2002 In East Aitape Rural LLG, Sandaun Province, ten homes and five water tanks were destroyed, while collapsed homes were also reported in Maprik District. Ubidnim village suffered severe liquefaction when water and sand erupted from the ground as high as 5 meters. Small uplifts of 30–40 cm was measured on several islands and the northern coastline of the Momase Region. On Tarawai Island, two instances of uplift were observed, separated by an hour. See also 1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake List of earthquakes in 2002 List of earthquakes in Papua New Guinea 2002 West Papua earthquake References Category:2002 tsunamis Category:2002 earthquakes Category:2002 in Papua New Guinea Category:Earthquakes in Papua New Guinea Category:September 2002 in Oceania Category:Tsunamis in Papua New Guinea Category:Sandaun Province Category:2002 disasters in Papua New Guinea