Significant earthquake of magnitude 5.2 just reported 62 km northeast of Lae, Papua New Guinea

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake near Lae, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea, was reported only 8 minutes ago by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), considered one of the key international agencies that monitor seismic activity worldwide. The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 10. km beneath the epicenter in the morning on Monday, May 18th, 2026, at 8:58 am local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake which listed the quake at magnitude 5.2 as well. A third agency, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), reported the same quake at magnitude 5.2.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake was probably felt by many people in the area of the epicenter. It should not have caused significant damage, other than objects falling from shelves, broken windows, etc.
In Finschhafen (pop. 1,100) located 37 km from the epicenter, the quake should have been felt as light shaking.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Lae (pop. 76,300) located 62 km from the epicenter, Bulolo (pop. 16,000) 123 km away, and Wau (pop. 14,600) 126 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you’re in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.


Earthquake data:
Date & time: May 17, 2026 10:58 pm (Universal Time) local time (17 May 2026 22:58 GMT)
Magnitude: 5.2
Depth: 67.00 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 6.5°S / 147.59°E (Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea)
Primary data source: EMSC
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