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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 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 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)
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.

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Earthquake details

Date & timeJan 10, 2021 06:48:20 UTC
Local time at epicenterSunday, Jan 10, 2021 at 5:48 pm (GMT +11)
StatusConfirmed
Magnitude6.1
Depth166.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude16.08°S / 167.81°E (Coral Sea, Vanuatu)
Antipode16.08°N / 12.19°W
Shaking intensityLight shaking
Felt1 report
Primary data sourceGFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Nearest volcanoAmbrym (38 km / 24 mi)
Nearby towns and cities42 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 quakeOvercast Clouds 29.6°C (85 F), humidity: 75%, wind: 4 m/s (7 kts) from NNW
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
Show interactive Map
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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
6.1166 kmVanuatu IslandsGFZ
6.1162 kmVANUATUEMSC
6.1160 km47 Km E of Lakatoro, VanuatuUSGS
6.0161 kmVanuatu IslandsGeoAu
6.0162 kmVanuatu IslandsBMKG

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
Show more

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.
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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 timeMag
Depth
LocationDetails
Jul 5, 2021 02:23
1 year 39 weeks ago
4.9

126 km
Coral Sea, Penama Province, 63 km E of Santo, VanuatuMore
Jun 20, 2021 16:46
1 year 41 weeks ago
4.3

251 km
Coral Sea, 208 km N of Port Vila, Shefa Province, VanuatuMore
May 30, 2021 15:14
1 year 44 weeks ago
4.5

140 km
Coral Sea, 44 km E of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore
May 22, 2021 07:37
1 year 45 weeks ago
4.6

193 km
Coral Sea, 93 km E of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore
May 7, 2021 02:40
1 year 47 weeks ago
4.9

47 km
Coral Sea, 48 km SE of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore
May 6, 2021 12:20
1 year 47 weeks ago
5.1

10 km
Coral Sea, 58 km S of Norsup, Malampa Province, VanuatuMore
May 1, 2021 11:50
1 year 48 weeks ago
5.2

181 km
Coral Sea, 47 km E of Norsup, Malampa Province, VanuatuMore
Apr 2, 2021 03:06
1 year 52 weeks ago
4.6

180 km
Ambrym, 74 km E of Norsup, Malampa Province, VanuatuMore
Mar 12, 2021 01:03
2 years ago
5.4

154 km
Coral Sea, 93 km SE of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore
Feb 16, 2021 08:07
2 years ago
5.1

100 km
Coral Sea, 64 km E of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore
Jan 11, 2021 21:30
2 years ago
4.7

151 km
Coral Sea, 84 km NE of Norsup, Malampa Province, VanuatuMore

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