The 1976 Papua earthquake occurred on 25 June 1976 in Papua, Indonesia. A magnitude

Moment magnitude scale

The moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released. The magnitude is based on the seismic moment of the earthquake, which is equal to the rigidity of the Earth multiplied by the average amount of slip on the fault and the size of...

 7.1 earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

, it killed 422 including 70 who died in subsequent landslide

Landslide

A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...

s.

Background

Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire

Pacific Ring of Fire

The Pacific Ring of Fire is an area where large numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean. In a horseshoe shape, it is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and/or plate movements...

, a sector of the Pacific where several tectonic plate

Plate tectonics

Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere...

s intersect. This movement between the plates results in extremely high volcanic and seismic activity. Papua is constantly plagued by landslide

Landslide

A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...

s.

Damage and casualties

Directly after the earthquake the casualty count was assessed as 350 dead. However, landslides soon occurred in the affected area, leading to 72 more casualties. 5,000-9,000 were missing after the landslides, and were assumed dead. A total six villages were demolished in the area. The west sector of Irian and eastern New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

also reported that the earthquake was felt significantly in their region.