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, 5 Mar 2021 3:53 am (GMT +11)

- Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - Coral Sea, 72 km southwest of Sola, Torba, Vanuatu, on Friday, 5 Mar 2021 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)
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 data:

Date & time: 4 Mar 2021 16:53:13 UTC -
Local time at epicenter: Friday, 5 Mar 2021 3:53 am (GMT +11)
Magnitude: 6.1
Depth: 191.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 14.47°S / 167.29°E (Coral Sea, Vanuatu)
Nearest volcano: Gaua (38 km / 24 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
68 km (42 mi) NNE of Port-Olry (pop: 1,950) --> See nearby quakes!
72 km (45 mi) SSW of Sola (pop: 1,170) --> See nearby quakes!
118 km (73 mi) N of Luganville (pop: 13,400) --> See nearby quakes!
178 km (110 mi) N of Norsup (pop: 3,000) --> See nearby quakes!
379 km (236 mi) NNW of Port Vila (pop: 35,900) --> See nearby quakes!
447 km (278 mi) SSE of Lata (Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands) (pop: 553) --> See nearby quakes!
171 km (107 mi) NW of Pentecost Island (pop: 16,800) --> See nearby quakes!
202 km (125 mi) N of Malakula Island (pop: 22,900) --> See nearby quakes!
169 km (105 mi) SSE of North Island (pop: 269) --> See nearby quakes!
Weather at epicenter at time of quake:
Overcast Clouds 26.8°C (80 F), humidity: 86%, wind: 11 m/s (21 kts) from NNW
Primary data source: GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Estimated released energy: 8.9 x 1013 joules (24.8 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 21301 tons of TNT or 1.3 atomic bombs!) More info
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If you felt this quake (or if you were near the epicenter), please share your experience and submit a short "I felt it" report! Other users would love to hear about it!
Also if you did NOT feel the quake although you were in the area, please report it! Your contribution is valuable also to earthquake science and earthquake hazard analysis and mitigation efforts. You can use your device location or the map to indicate where you were during the earthquake. Thank you!

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.
MagnitudeDepthLocationSource
6.1191 kmVanuatu IslandsGFZ
6.1169 kmVANUATUEMSC
5.9234 kmVanuatu IslandsBMKG
6.0189 kmVanuatu IslandsGeoAu
6.1173 km69 Km SSW of Sola, VanuatuUSGS

User reports for this quake (4)

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!
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.  
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
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Aftershocks

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (2 quakes):
  • 23 Mar 2021 12:40 UTC
    | M 5.0 |
    10 km (6.2 mi) depth
    |
    56 km (35 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 19 Mar 2021 17:57 UTC
    | M 5.0 |
    10 km (6.2 mi) depth
    |
    64 km (40 mi) distance
    | GFZ | Details

Earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900


Map of earlier quakes

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