Very Strong Mag. 6.2 Earthquake - Coral Sea, 133 km South of Port Vila, Shefa Province, Vanuatu, on Thursday, Feb 18, 2021 at 5:37 pm (GMT +11)

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Very strong mag. 6.2 earthquake - VANUATU on Thursday, 18 February 2021 at 06:37 (GMT) - information

Very strong mag. 6.2 earthquake - Coral Sea, 133 km south of Port Vila, Shefa Province, Vanuatu, on Thursday, Feb 18, 2021 at 5:37 pm (GMT +11)

Very strong magnitude 6.2 earthquake at 10 km depth

18 Feb 06:46 UTC: First to report: EMSC after 9 minutes.
18 Feb 06:48: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 10.0 to 60.0 km (from 6.2 to 37 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 18 km (11 mi) towards SE.
... [show all] ...
18 Feb 07:05: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 60.0 to 10.0 km (from 37 to 6.2 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 7.9 km (4.9 mi) towards N.

Update Thu, 18 Feb 2021, 06:51

Significant magnitude 5.7 quake hits 140 km southwest of Port Vila, Vanuatu in the afternoon

5.7 quake 18 Feb 5:37 pm (GMT +11)

An earthquake of magnitude 5.7 occurred only 14 minutes ago 140 km southwest of Port Vila, Vanuatu, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported.
The quake hit at a shallow depth of 10 km beneath the epicenter near Port Vila, Shefa Province, Vanuatu, in the afternoon on Thursday 18 February 2021 at 5:37 pm local time. 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.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) which listed the quake at magnitude 6.1.
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 Port Vila (pop. 35,900) located 140 km from the epicenter.
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 & time	Feb 18, 2021 06:37:31 UTC
Local time at epicenter	Thursday, Feb 18, 2021 at 5:37 pm (GMT +11)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	6.2
Depth	10.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	18.9°S / 168.02°E (Coral Sea, Vanuatu)
Antipode	18.9°N / 11.98°W
Shaking intensity	Very strong shaking near epicenter
Felt	2 reports
Primary data source	EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre)
Nearest volcano	Traitor's Head (128 km / 80 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	133 km (83 mi) SSW of Port Vila (pop: 35,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 151 km (94 mi) WNW of Isangel (pop: 1,440) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 238 km (148 mi) NNE of Wé (Lifou, New Caledonia) (pop: 10,400) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 249 km (155 mi) NE of Fayaoué (New Caledonia) (pop: 4,410) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 295 km (183 mi) N of Tadine (Maré, New Caledonia) (pop: 7,490) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 322 km (200 mi) SSE of Norsup (pop: 3,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 387 km (240 mi) SSE of Santo (Luganville) (pop: 13,400) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 397 km (247 mi) NNE of Dumbéa (New Caledonia) (pop: 19,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 403 km (251 mi) NNE of Mont-Dore (New Caledonia) (pop: 24,700) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 409 km (254 mi) NNE of Noumea (New Caledonia) (pop: 93,100) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 160 km (99 mi) WNW of Tanna Island (pop: 28,800) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Light Rain 28.8°C (84 F), humidity: 68%, wind: 0 m/s (1 kts) from W
Estimated seismic energy released	1.3 x 10¹⁴ joules (35 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 30089 tons of TNT or 1.9 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
6.2	10 km	VANUATU	EMSC
6.2	10 km	Vanuatu Islands	GFZ
6.1	10 km	135 Km SSW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu	USGS
6.2	29 km	Vanuatu Islands	GeoAu
6.3	19 km	Vanuatu Islands [Sea: Vanuatu]	INGV
6.1	10 km	Vanuatu Islands	BMKG

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

User reports for this quake (2)

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

Translate

Eton reef, Efate (134.7 km NNE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

port vila / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Aftershocks

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (3 quakes)

Date and time	Mag Depth	Location	Details
Aug 8, 2021 14:37 1 year 43 weeks ago	4.8 40 km	Coral Sea, 155 km S of Port Vila, Shefa Province, Vanuatu	More
May 29, 2021 01:44 2 years ago	4.7 35 km	Coral Sea, 69 km S of Port Vila, Shefa Province, Vanuatu	More
Apr 27, 2021 13:07 2 years ago	4.9 10 km	Coral Sea, 167 km SW of Port Vila, Shefa Province, Vanuatu	More

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