Qualla: 2002 Sandaun Earthquake https://qualla.com/2002-sandaun-earthquake en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/m/t/2002-sandaun-earthquake-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: 2002 Sandaun Earthquake https://qualla.com/2002-sandaun-earthquake 2002 Sandaun Earthquake: Introduction https://qualla.com/2002-sandaun-earthquake/ Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. At 04:44:23 local time on 9 September 2002, people in Wewak were still asleep when the Pacific plate slipped. A magnitude 7.6 earthquake ruptured the sea floor off Sandaun Province, shallow enough to push the water above it. In coastal Wewak, buildings collapsed; in villages near Ubidnim, water and sand erupted from the ground in fountains five metres high as the saturated soil liquefied. Then the sea came. A five-metre wave rolled into East Sepik, swept homes from their foundations, and killed a child and another person by drowning. Six people had already died in the earthquake itself. Seventy were injured. It was the largest earthquake to strike mainland Papua New Guinea since 1938.

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Image: Carport | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/m/t/2002-sandaun-earthquake-wp/rpmt-2002-sandaun-earthquake-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full 2002 Sandaun Earthquake: Where Plates Collide https://qualla.com/2002-sandaun-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. New Guinea lies in one of the busiest tectonic intersections on Earth, where the Australian and Pacific plates grind past and into each other along a long, complicated boundary. Along its northern coast, the action is concentrated in the collision of the Huon-Finisterre island ar...

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Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/m/t/2002-sandaun-earthquake-wp/rpmt-2002-sandaun-earthquake-where-plates-collide.mp3 0:06 2 full 2002 Sandaun Earthquake: Signs Before the Shock https://qualla.com/2002-sandaun-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Sandaun earthquake did not arrive without warning, though no one reads the warnings clearly until afterward. Thirty-six foreshocks preceded the main rupture, including a magnitude 6.2 event in October 2001 and a magnitude 6.7 near Aitape in January 2002 that killed one person...

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Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/m/t/2002-sandaun-earthquake-wp/rpmt-2002-sandaun-earthquake-signs-before-the-shock.mp3 0:06 3 full 2002 Sandaun Earthquake: The Wave in the Dark https://qualla.com/2002-sandaun-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of X - extreme - near the epicentre, tapering to strong shaking of intensity VI in Wewak, Kairiru, Ambunti, Angoram, and Aitape. Even Keerom and Jayapura across the Indonesian border felt moderate tremors....

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Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/m/t/2002-sandaun-earthquake-wp/rpmt-2002-sandaun-earthquake-the-wave-in-the-dark.mp3 0:06 4 full 2002 Sandaun Earthquake: Aftermath on a Moving Coast https://qualla.com/2002-sandaun-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The strongest aftershock, a magnitude 6.3, struck on 16 September southwest of the mainshock. Another magnitude 6.2 hit Marienberg Rural LLG in February 2003. Hundreds of homes and buildings across Sandaun and East Sepik were damaged or destroyed, mostly in Wewak. The toll could ...

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Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/m/t/2002-sandaun-earthquake-wp/rpmt-2002-sandaun-earthquake-aftermath-on-a-moving-coast.mp3 0:06 5 full 2002 Sandaun Earthquake: A Coastline That Keeps Rising https://qualla.com/2002-sandaun-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The small uplifts measured after the quake - 30 to 40 centimetres across stretches of the Momase Region coastline - are the geological signature of what happens every time a reverse fault ruptures offshore here. Over geologic time, these small jumps add up to the terraces and rai...

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Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/m/t/2002-sandaun-earthquake-wp/rpmt-2002-sandaun-earthquake-a-coastline-that-keeps-rising.mp3 0:06 6 full