Strong Mag. 6.1 Earthquake - Coral Sea, 72 km Southwest of Sola, Torba, Vanuatu, on Friday, Mar 5, 2021 at 3:53 am (GMT +11)

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Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - Coral Sea, 118 km north of Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu, on Friday, 5 Mar 2021 3:53 am (GMT +11)

Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - Coral Sea, 72 km southwest of Sola, Torba, Vanuatu, on Friday, Mar 5, 2021 at 3:53 am (GMT +11)

Strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake at 191 km depth

4 Mar 17:01 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 8 minutes.
4 Mar 17:03: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 179.0 to 184.0 km (from 111 to 114 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 2.2 km (1.4 mi) towards N.
4 Mar 17:21: Magnitude recalculated from 5.9 to 6.1.
4 Mar 17:21: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 184.0 to 191.0 km (from 114 to 119 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 4.6 km (2.9 mi) towards NE.

Update Thu, 4 Mar 2021, 17:06

Moderate yet deep magnitude 5.9 quake hits 114 km north of Luganville, Vanuatu early morning

5.9 quake 5 Mar 3:53 am (GMT +11)

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake near Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu, was reported only 13 minutes ago by the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), considered one of the key international agencies that monitor seismic activity worldwide. The earthquake occurred at an intermediate to considerable depth of 184 km beneath the epicenter early morning on Friday 5 March 2021 at 3:53 am 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 European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) which listed the quake at magnitude 5.7.
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-Olry (pop. 2,000) located 64 km from the epicenter, and Luganville (pop. 13,400) 114 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 & time	Mar 4, 2021 16:53:13 UTC
Local time at epicenter	Friday, Mar 5, 2021 at 3:53 am (GMT +11)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	6.1
Depth	191.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	14.47°S / 167.29°E (Coral Sea, Vanuatu)
Antipode	14.47°N / 12.71°W
Shaking intensity	Light shaking
Felt	4 reports
Primary data source	GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Nearest volcano	Gaua (38 km / 24 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	68 km (42 mi) NNE of Port-Olry (pop: 1,950) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 72 km (45 mi) SSW of Sola (pop: 1,170) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 118 km (73 mi) N of Santo (Luganville) (pop: 13,400) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 178 km (110 mi) N of Norsup (pop: 3,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 379 km (236 mi) NNW of Port Vila (pop: 35,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 119 km (74 mi) NW of Maewo Island (pop: 3,570) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 171 km (107 mi) NW of Pentecost Island (pop: 16,800) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 202 km (125 mi) N of Malakula Island (pop: 22,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Overcast Clouds 26.8°C (80 F), humidity: 86%, wind: 11 m/s (21 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

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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	191 km	Vanuatu Islands	GFZ
6.1	169 km	VANUATU	EMSC
5.9	234 km	Vanuatu Islands	BMKG
6.0	189 km	Vanuatu Islands	GeoAu
6.1	173 km	69 Km SSW of Sola, Vanuatu	USGS

Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in Vanuatu

Seismograms

Seismic station: Tucson, Arizona (TUC/IU network) | Distance from quake: 10126 km / 6292 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 (4)

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

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Aore island, south of Luganville (121.6 km S of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : We heard it coming, as usual. Seemed to take a while, but would have only been seconds, the shake arrived, nothing was knocked over but it was a long shake, the longest and strongest we have felt for a long time. | 7 users found this interesting.

Gold Coast, Queensland (2073.7 km SW of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : I heard a rumble and my book moved a tiny bit

Luganville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s

Aore Island / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Aftershocks

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (13 quakes)

Date and time	Mag Depth	Location	Details
Aug 18, 2021 10:10 1 year 32 weeks ago - felt	6.9 90 km	Coral Sea, 74 km N of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
Aug 8, 2021 13:56 1 year 33 weeks ago	4.3 168 km	Coral Sea, 67 km S of Sola, Torba, Vanuatu	More
Aug 6, 2021 18:00 1 year 33 weeks ago	4.5 119 km	Coral Sea, 54 km N of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
Aug 6, 2021 13:35 1 year 34 weeks ago	5.2 202 km	Coral Sea, 52 km SW of Sola, Torba, Vanuatu	More
Jul 22, 2021 02:24 1 year 36 weeks ago	5.5 29 km	Coral Sea, 91 km NW of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
Jul 15, 2021 13:00 1 year 37 weeks ago	4.6 187 km	Coral Sea, 62 km S of Sola, Torba, Vanuatu	More
Jun 12, 2021 19:00 1 year 41 weeks ago - felt	4.5 151 km	Coral Sea, 97 km N of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
Jun 9, 2021 20:41 1 year 42 weeks ago	4.5 26 km	Coral Sea, 45 km SW of Sola, Torba, Vanuatu	More
May 10, 2021 06:39 1 year 46 weeks ago	4.4 116 km	Coral Sea, 82 km NE of Port-Olry, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
May 3, 2021 13:58 1 year 47 weeks ago	4.5 182 km	Coral Sea, 62 km S of Sola, Torba, Vanuatu	More
Apr 26, 2021 15:07 1 year 48 weeks ago	4.6 126 km	Coral Sea, 67 km N of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
Mar 23, 2021 12:40 2 years ago	5.0 10 km	Coral Sea, 72 km NW of Port-Olry, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More
Mar 19, 2021 17:57 2 years ago	5.0 10 km	Coral Sea, 60 km NW of Port-Olry, Sanma Province, Vanuatu	More

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