A magnitude 5.4 earthquake occurred early on Thursday morning, November 12, 2026, at 4:38 am local time near Arawa, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, according to Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency.According to preliminary data, the quake occurred at a shallow depth of 10 km. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones because they are closer to the surface. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake may be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review the data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their reports.A second report was later issued by the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), which listed it as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake.Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage but was probably felt by many people as light vibrations in the epicentral area. Weak shaking might have been felt in Panguna (pop. 2,900), located 85 km from the epicenter; Arawa (pop. 40,300), 94 km away; and Kieta (pop. 3,600), 101 km away.VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update the magnitude and depth if they change and follow up if other significant news about the quake becomes 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: Nov 12, 2026 04:38 am (GMT +11) local time (11 Nov 2026 17:38 GMT)Magnitude: 5.4Hypocenter depth: 10.00 kmEpicenter coordinates: 6.23°S / 154.72°E (Papua New Guinea)Primary data source: BMKG