Strong Mag. 6.1 Earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 371 km Southeast of Port Vila, Shefa Province, Vanuatu, on Friday, Jan 8, 2021 at 4:01 pm (GMT +11)

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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, 371 km southeast of Port Vila, Shefa Province, Vanuatu, on Friday, Jan 8, 2021 at 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.

Earthquake details

Date & time	Jan 8, 2021 05:01:06 UTC
Local time at epicenter	Friday, Jan 8, 2021 at 4:01 pm (GMT +11)
Status	Confirmed
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
Shaking intensity	Light shaking
Felt	7 reports
Primary data source	GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Nearest volcano	Eastern Gemini Seamount (50 km / 31 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	146 km (91 mi) SSE of Isangel (pop: 1,440) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 227 km (141 mi) ENE of Tadine (Maré, New Caledonia) (pop: 7,490) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 273 km (169 mi) E of Wé (Lifou, New Caledonia) (pop: 10,400) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 348 km (216 mi) E of Fayaoué (New Caledonia) (pop: 4,410) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 371 km (231 mi) SSE of Port Vila (pop: 35,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 383 km (238 mi) ENE of Mont-Dore (New Caledonia) (pop: 24,700) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 388 km (241 mi) ENE of Dumbéa (New Caledonia) (pop: 19,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 394 km (245 mi) ENE of Noumea (New Caledonia) (pop: 93,100) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 397 km (246 mi) ENE of Paita (New Caledonia) (pop: 12,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 59 km (37 mi) S of Aneityum Island (pop: 915) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 143 km (89 mi) SSE of Tanna Island (pop: 28,800) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Overcast Clouds 27.3°C (81 F), humidity: 81%, wind: 7 m/s (13 kts) from ENE
Estimated seismic energy released	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.	Depth	Location	Source
6.1	136 km	Vanuatu Islands	GFZ
6.1	120 km	VANUATU	EMSC
6.0	134 km	Vanuatu Islands	BMKG
6.1	118 km	146 Km SSE of Isangel, Vanuatu	USGS
6.0	113 km	Vanuatu Islands	GeoAu

Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in New Caledonia

Seismograms

Seismic station: Tucson, Arizona (TUC/IU network) | Distance from quake: 10281 km / 6388 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Tucson, Arizona: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.02-2.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

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

Aftershocks

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (3 quakes)

Date and time	Mag Depth	Location	Details
Apr 17, 2021 02:06 1 year 48 weeks ago	4.5 125 km	South Pacific Ocean, Vanuatu	More
Mar 31, 2021 03:59 1 year 51 weeks ago	4.8 110 km	South Pacific Ocean, Vanuatu	More
Feb 4, 2021 23:48 2 years ago	4.8 33 km	South Pacific Ocean, Vanuatu	More

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