Magnitude 7.6 Mw Type Thrust | Depth 30 km (19 mi) Areas affected Indonesia | |
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Date January 3, 2009 at 19:43:54 UTC Max. intensity 19:43 – VI (Strong)
22:33 – VIII (Severe) Similar 1938 Banda Sea earthquake, March 2007 Sumatra, 2016 Sumatra earthquake, 1992 Flores earthquake, September 2007 Sumatra | ||
The 2009 Papua earthquakes occurred on January 4 local time in Indonesia's West Papua province. The very large earthquake doublet comprised a magnitude 7.6 initial shock that had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong) and a second very large event that had a moment magnitude of 7.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). The events took place less than three hours apart to the east-northeast of Sorong on the Bird's Head Peninsula and left at least four people dead and dozens injured.
An official of World Vision International, a humanitarian aid organization, said ten buildings had been totally destroyed, including several hotels and the house of a government official. Officials said three people, who had been staying at the Mutiara hotel in the city of Manokwari, were pulled alive from the rubble and taken to a hospital. Two hotels collapsed in the quake. There have been twenty-three aftershocks above magnitude 5.0 and another at magnitude 6.0. The earthquakes were also felt in nearby Papua New Guinea and Darwin, Australia.