An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 jolted 189 km SE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea at 14:08 GMT on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 36.33 km, was initially determined to be at 5.3187 degrees south latitude and 153.6743 degrees east longitude. 

The quake hit at a shallow depth of 10 km beneath the epicenter near Kokopo, Kokopo District, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, early morning on Friday, November 19th, 2021, at 1:40 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.

A second report was later issued by Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency, which listed it as a magnitude 5.4 earthquake. A third agency, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), reported the same quake at magnitude 5.6.

Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.

Weak shaking might have been felt in Kokopo (pop. 26,300) located 119 km from the epicenter.