Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - Vanuatu Islands on Friday, 8 January 2021 at 05:01 (GMT) - information

Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 59 km south of Aneityum Island, Tafea Province, Vanuatu, on Friday, Jan 8, 2021 4:01 pm (GMT +11)

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Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 59 km south of Aneityum Island, Tafea Province, Vanuatu, on Friday, Jan 8, 2021 4:01 pm (GMT +11)

Strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake at 136 km depth

8 Jan 05:10 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 9 minutes.
8 Jan 05:12: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 137.0 to 136.0 km (from 85 to 85 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 1 km (0.6 mi) towards W.
8 Jan 07:22: Magnitude recalculated from 6.0 to 6.1.
Date & time: Jan 8, 2021 05:01:06 UTC -
Local time at epicenter: Friday, Jan 8, 2021 4:01 pm (GMT +11)
Magnitude: 6.1
Depth: 136.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 20.73°S / 169.88°E (South Pacific Ocean, Vanuatu)
Antipode: 20.73°N / 10.12°W
Nearest volcano: Eastern Gemini Seamount (50 km / 31 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
146 km (91 mi) SSE of Isangel (pop: 1,440) --> See nearby quakes!
227 km (141 mi) ENE of Tadine (Maré, New Caledonia) (pop: 7,490) --> See nearby quakes!
273 km (169 mi) E of Wé (Lifou, New Caledonia) (pop: 10,400) --> See nearby quakes!
348 km (216 mi) E of Fayaoué (New Caledonia) (pop: 4,410) --> See nearby quakes!
371 km (231 mi) SSE of Port Vila (pop: 35,900) --> See nearby quakes!
383 km (238 mi) ENE of Mont-Dore (New Caledonia) (pop: 24,700) --> See nearby quakes!
388 km (241 mi) ENE of Dumbéa (New Caledonia) (pop: 19,300) --> See nearby quakes!
394 km (245 mi) ENE of Noumea (New Caledonia) (pop: 93,100) --> See nearby quakes!
397 km (246 mi) ENE of Paita (New Caledonia) (pop: 12,600) --> See nearby quakes!
59 km (37 mi) S of Aneityum Island (pop: 915) --> See nearby quakes!
143 km (89 mi) SSE of Tanna Island (pop: 28,800) --> See nearby quakes!
Weather at epicenter at time of quake:
Overcast Clouds 27.3°C (81 F), humidity: 81%, wind: 7 m/s (13 kts) from ENE
Primary data source: GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Estimated released energy: 8.9 x 1013 joules (24.8 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 21301 tons of TNT or 1.3 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy
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Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies

Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag.DepthLocationSource
6.1136 kmVanuatu IslandsGFZ
6.1120 kmVANUATUEMSC
6.0134 kmVanuatu IslandsBMKG
6.1118 km146 Km SSE of Isangel, VanuatuUSGS
6.0113 kmVanuatu IslandsGeoAu

User reports for this quake (7)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
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Translate
nouméa new caledonia 3rd stage (389.5 km WSW of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Seems longee and stronger than next experiences in Nouméa. The vibrations arrives at 4:02 pm, I had a look to my watch. | 6 users found this interesting.  
Paita, South Province (397.8 km WSW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s
Noumea, South Province (394.9 km WSW of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) (reported through our app)
LIFOU / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s
Wé Lifou / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 2-5 s
Maré / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s
Nouméa, avenue de la Victoire 7ème étage / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 5-10 s
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Aftershocks

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (3 quakes)

Date and timeMag
Depth		LocationDetails
Apr 17, 2021 02:06
39 weeks ago
4.5

125 km		South Pacific Ocean, VanuatuMore
Mar 31, 2021 03:59
42 weeks ago
4.8

110 km		South Pacific Ocean, VanuatuMore
Feb 4, 2021 23:48
50 weeks ago
4.8

33 km		South Pacific Ocean, VanuatuMore

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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