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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 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 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 & timeJan 8, 2021 05:01:06 UTC
Local time at epicenterFriday, Jan 8, 2021 at 4:01 pm (GMT +11)
StatusConfirmed
Magnitude6.1
Depth136.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude20.73°S / 169.88°E (South Pacific Ocean, Vanuatu)
Antipode20.73°N / 10.12°W
Shaking intensityLight shaking
Felt7 reports
Primary data sourceGFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Nearest volcanoEastern Gemini Seamount (50 km / 31 mi)
Nearby towns and cities146 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 quakeOvercast Clouds 27.3°C (81 F), humidity: 81%, wind: 7 m/s (13 kts) from ENE
Estimated seismic energy released8.9 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

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
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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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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 timeMag
Depth
LocationDetails
Apr 17, 2021 02:06
1 year 48 weeks ago
4.5

125 km
South Pacific Ocean, VanuatuMore
Mar 31, 2021 03:59
1 year 51 weeks ago
4.8

110 km
South Pacific Ocean, VanuatuMore
Feb 4, 2021 23:48
2 years ago
4.8

33 km
South Pacific Ocean, VanuatuMore

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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