The earthquake's epicentre was located 28 kilometres (17 miles) south of the town of Nabire, which is on the Indonesian half of the large Pacific island shared with Papua New Guinea.

While the USGS reported the quake at a 6.1 magnitude and depth of 10 kilometres, Indonesia's BMKG agency put it at 6.6 magnitude and a depth of 24 kilometres, and reported several smaller aftershocks.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.