Strong Mag. 6.1 Earthquake - Coral Sea, 44 km East of Norsup, Malampa Province, Vanuatu, on Sunday, Jan 10, 2021 at 5:48 pm (GMT +11)

Contact | RSS | EN | DE | EL | ES | FR | IT | RU

Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - Coral Sea, 44 km east of Norsup, Malampa Province, Vanuatu, on Sunday, 10 Jan 5:48 pm (GMT +11)

Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - Coral Sea, 44 km east of Norsup, Malampa Province, Vanuatu, on Sunday, Jan 10, 2021 at 5:48 pm (GMT +11)

Strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake at 166 km depth

10 Jan 06:57 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 9 minutes.
10 Jan 06:59: Magnitude recalculated from 5.8 to 5.7. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 159.0 to 161.0 km (from 99 to 100 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 2.2 km (1.4 mi) towards N.
10 Jan 07:00: Magnitude recalculated from 5.7 to 5.9. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 161.0 to 162.0 km (from 100 to 101 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 1.1 km (0.7 mi) towards N.
10 Jan 07:05: Magnitude recalculated from 5.9 to 6.1. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 162.0 to 166.0 km (from 101 to 103 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 5.5 km (3.4 mi) towards E.

Update Sun, 10 Jan 2021, 07:03

Magnitude 5.9 earthquake strikes near Norsup, Malampa Province, Vanuatu

5.9 quake 10 Jan 5:48 pm (GMT +11)

A intermediate to deep magnitude 5.9 earthquake was reported in the afternoon near Norsup, Malampa Province, Vanuatu.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the quake hit on Sunday 10 January 2021 at 5:48 pm local time at an intermediate to considerable depth of 162 km. The strength of the earthquake may have been tempered by its relative great depth below the surface, which makes it feel weaker in absolute terms. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
A second report was later issued by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), which listed it as a magnitude 5.7 earthquake.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Lakatoro (pop. 710) located 37 km from the epicenter, Norsup (pop. 3,000) 39 km away, and Luganville (pop. 13,400) 89 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.

Download the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app and get one of the fastest seismic alerts online: Android | iOS

Earthquake details

Date & time	Jan 10, 2021 06:48:20 UTC
Local time at epicenter	Sunday, Jan 10, 2021 at 5:48 pm (GMT +11)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	6.1
Depth	166.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	16.08°S / 167.81°E (Coral Sea, Vanuatu)
Antipode	16.08°N / 12.19°W
Shaking intensity	Light shaking
Felt	1 report
Primary data source	GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Nearest volcano	Ambrym (38 km / 24 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	42 km (26 mi) E of Lakatoro (pop: 705) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 93 km (58 mi) SE of Santo (Luganville) (pop: 13,400) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 140 km (87 mi) SE of Port-Olry (pop: 1,950) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 192 km (119 mi) NNW of Port Vila (pop: 35,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 247 km (153 mi) S of Sola (pop: 1,170) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 415 km (258 mi) NNW of Isangel (pop: 1,440) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 38 km (24 mi) WNW of Ambrym Island (pop: 7,280) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 39 km (24 mi) NE of Malakula Island (pop: 22,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 418 km (260 mi) NNW of Tanna Island (pop: 28,800) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Overcast Clouds 29.6°C (85 F), humidity: 75%, wind: 4 m/s (7 kts) from NNW
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

Show interactive Map

[smaller] [bigger]

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	166 km	Vanuatu Islands	GFZ
6.1	162 km	VANUATU	EMSC
6.1	160 km	47 Km E of Lakatoro, Vanuatu	USGS
6.0	161 km	Vanuatu Islands	GeoAu
6.0	162 km	Vanuatu Islands	BMKG

Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in Vanuatu

Seismograms

Seismic station: Tucson, Arizona (TUC/IU network) | Distance from quake: 10178 km / 6324 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 (3)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.

Contribute:
Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it.
Flag as inappropriate.
Mark as helpful or interesting.
Send your own user report!

Translate

Brawley, CA. / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Happening lately around this time. Bed time. | 4 users found this interesting.

Birmingham UK (15860.5 km N of epicenter) [Map] / not felt : I didn’t feel a thing | One user found this interesting.

Port-Vila (187 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / not felt (reported through our app)

Aftershocks

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (11 quakes)

Date and time	Mag Depth	Location	Details
Jul 5, 2021 02:23 1 year 39 weeks ago	4.9 126 km	Coral Sea, Penama Province, 63 km E of Santo, Vanuatu	More
Jun 20, 2021 16:46 1 year 41 weeks ago	4.3 251 km	Coral Sea, 208 km N of Port Vila, Shefa Province, Vanuatu	More
May 30, 2021 15:14 1 year 44 weeks ago	4.5 140 km	Coral Sea, 44 km E of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
May 22, 2021 07:37 1 year 45 weeks ago	4.6 193 km	Coral Sea, 93 km E of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
May 7, 2021 02:40 1 year 47 weeks ago	4.9 47 km	Coral Sea, 48 km SE of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
May 6, 2021 12:20 1 year 47 weeks ago	5.1 10 km	Coral Sea, 58 km S of Norsup, Malampa Province, Vanuatu	More
May 1, 2021 11:50 1 year 48 weeks ago	5.2 181 km	Coral Sea, 47 km E of Norsup, Malampa Province, Vanuatu	More
Apr 2, 2021 03:06 1 year 52 weeks ago	4.6 180 km	Ambrym, 74 km E of Norsup, Malampa Province, Vanuatu	More
Mar 12, 2021 01:03 2 years ago	5.4 154 km	Coral Sea, 93 km SE of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
Feb 16, 2021 08:07 2 years ago	5.1 100 km	Coral Sea, 64 km E of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
Jan 11, 2021 21:30 2 years ago	4.7 151 km	Coral Sea, 84 km NE of Norsup, Malampa Province, Vanuatu	More

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900!

Try our free app!

Android | iOS version

Why is there advertising on this site?

Support us - Help us upgrade our services!

We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world. Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources.
We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please make a donation (PayPal or Online credit card payment).

Planned features:

Improved multilanguage support
Tsunami alerts
Faster responsiveness

Thanks to your past donations, these features have been added recently:

Design upgrade
Detailed quake stats
Additional seismic data sources

Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online:
Android | IOS

Thank you!

Sources: VolcanoDiscovery / VolcanoAdventures and other sources as noted.
Use of material: Most text and images on our websites are owned by us. Re-use is generally not permitted without authorization. Contact us for licensing rights.

Volcanoes & Earthquakes