Lae is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and geologic instability has produced numerous faults, resulting in earthquakes.

Lae sits between the larger Indo-Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate on the South Bismarck Plate in the Ramu-Markham Fault Zone where the New Guinea Highlands Deforming Zone and South Bismarck tectonic plates are converging at up to 50 mm/yr.
The city is caught in a giant geological vice and the seismic hazard is significant.

More than 15 years of measurements have been analysed with results indicating how rapidly Lae city and its survey network is deforming.

The Ramu-Markham Fault Zone, which follows the northern edge of the Markham Valley, is the active plate boundary between the South Bismarck Plate and tectonostratigraphic terranes within the New Guinea Highlands Deforming Zone.
The Ramu-Markham Fault Zone has generated large thrust earthquakes (e.g. 6 April 1999 MW 6.4, 16 km North of Lae, near Hobu, and 22 November 2007 MW 6.8, 110 km North of Lae).
Geological evidence suggests that major earthquakes in pre-historic times have occurred in the Lae area, and that there is the potential for another large earthquake to occur anytime within the next 100 years (in).

The 1998 earthquake occurred near Vanimo resulting in 2200 casualties.
Lae is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and geologic instability has produced numerous faults, resulting in earthquakes.
Lae sits between the larger Indo-Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate on the South Bismarck Plate in the Ramu-Markham Fault Zone where the New Guinea Highlands Deforming Zone and South Bismarck tectonic plates are converging at up to 50 mm/yr. The city is caught in a giant geological vice and the seismic hazard is significant.
More than 15 years of measurements have been analysed with results indicating how rapidly Lae city and its survey network is deforming.
The Ramu-Markham Fault Zone, which follows the northern edge of the Markham Valley, is the active plate boundary between the South Bismarck Plate and tectonostratigraphic terranes within the New Guinea Highlands Deforming Zone. The Ramu-Markham Fault Zone has generated large thrust earthquakes (e.g. 6 April 1999 MW 6.4, 16 km North of Lae, near Hobu, and 22 November 2007 MW 6.8, 110 km North of Lae). Geological evidence suggests that major earthquakes in pre-historic times have occurred in the Lae area, and that there is the potential for another large earthquake to occur anytime within the next 100 years (in).
The 1998 earthquake occurred near Vanimo resulting in 2200 casualties.
Lae