Qualla: 2018 Papua New Guinea Earthquake

2018 Papua New Guinea Earthquake: Introduction

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. At 3:44 in the morning on February 26, 2018, the ground beneath the sleeping highlands of Hela Province began to move. Twenty-five kilometers below the northern slopes of Mount Sisa, rock fractured along a fault line and released energy equivalent to a magnitude 7.5 earthquake, the most powerful to strike Papua New Guinea in a decade. Within thirty minutes, the first major aftershock arrived. Over the following weeks, more than sixty aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or greater would rattle the region, including several strong enough to kill. By the time the earth finally settled, 160 people were dead, over 500 were injured, and a quarter of a million people in one of the world's most remote populated regions needed help that the shattered roads and collapsed hillsides made nearly impossible to deliver.

Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

2018 Papua New Guinea Earthquake: When the Ground Opened

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The epicenter was 10 kilometers west of the town of Komo, deep in Papua New Guinea's central highlands. The maximum felt intensity reached IX on the Mercalli scale, classified as Violent. The shaking triggered landslides that buried homes and entire sections of hillside, while th...

Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

2018 Papua New Guinea Earthquake: The Aftershocks That Kept Killing

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The initial earthquake was devastating, but the aftershocks turned devastation into prolonged catastrophe. On March 4, a magnitude 6.0 aftershock triggered a landslide that buried the small village of Huya, killing eleven people. Three days later, a magnitude 6.7 aftershock kille...

Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

2018 Papua New Guinea Earthquake: A Quarter-Million People Waiting

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. A week after the main quake, International Red Cross officials estimated 150,000 people were in urgent need of emergency supplies. Food and clean water were the most desperate requirements, but reaching the affected communities was the greater challenge. Landslides had closed roa...

Image: Carport | CC BY-SA 3.0

2018 Papua New Guinea Earthquake: The World Responds

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. Papua New Guinea's government declared a state of emergency across four provinces, later extending concern to Gulf Province when the earthquake's impact there became clear. Commerce and Industry Minister Wera Mori estimated reconstruction costs at 600 million kina, roughly 185 mi...

Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0