A magnitude 7.9 (MW) earthquake occurred on 1979-09-12, 14:17 local time (05:17 UTC) (17207d ago), centered Off the coast of Biak (58 km S, Indonesia). The hypocenter was located at a shallow depth of 5 km. Primary telemetry verified by USGS alongside 1 regional seismic monitoring networks.
Curated Global Seismic Archive (1700–Present)
10.68 Mt TNT
shallow (Shallow crustal)
Injuries: > 5,000 · ~31.2M felt
Timeline of foreshocks, main rupture, aftershocks and machine learning risk probability evolution.
Shaking intensity is modelled from magnitude, depth and distance (GMPE attenuation), not reported by residents.
| Town | Distance | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| Biak · Papua | 58 km | MMI IX |
| Nabire · Papua | 195 km | MMI VII |
| Manokwari · Irian Jaya Barat | 237 km | MMI VII |
Independent solutions for the same rupture. Differences of 0.1–0.3 in magnitude are normal and reflect method and station coverage.
| Agency | Source ID | Magnitude | Depth | Epicenter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
USGS Primary | usp00012wp | M 7.9 | 5 km | -1.68, 136.04 |
Nearest mapped active fault: Unnamed Fault, 5 km away, slip rate ~15.0 mm/yr (GEM Global Active Faults).