Mw 6.8 New Ireland Region, P.N.G.

On 8 March 2018 a strong earthquake occurred in New Ireland Region, P.N.G. at a depth of 30 km. The seismic event occurred at 17:39:52 UTC and had an estimated moment magnitude (Mw) 6.8.

This is the second and strongest earthquake following the series of planetary alignments in the first week of March. Note the high lunar peak on the 7th. See also the strong earthquake on 6 March.

Sun-Mars-Jupiter          2018-03-03, 21:45:21  223°02'18"
Mercury-Mars-Jupiter      2018-03-04, 13:46:25  222°58'35"
Earth-Sun-Neptune         2018-03-04, 13:55:50  343°41'22"
Venus-Mercury-Earth       2018-03-04, 18:03:05  176°58'32"
Mercury-Sun-Jupiter       2018-03-04, 22:09:51  223°06'58"
Mercury-Sun-Mars          2018-03-05,  0:01:57  223°34'41"
          

SSGI depiction of planetary (PG) and lunar (LG) geometry