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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 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 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)
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 & timeMar 4, 2021 16:53:13 UTC
Local time at epicenterFriday, Mar 5, 2021 at 3:53 am (GMT +11)
StatusConfirmed
Magnitude6.1
Depth191.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude14.47°S / 167.29°E (Coral Sea, Vanuatu)
Antipode14.47°N / 12.71°W
Shaking intensityLight shaking
Felt4 reports
Primary data sourceGFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Nearest volcanoGaua (38 km / 24 mi)
Nearby towns and cities68 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 quakeOvercast Clouds 26.8°C (80 F), humidity: 86%, wind: 11 m/s (21 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
6.1191 kmVanuatu IslandsGFZ
6.1169 kmVANUATUEMSC
5.9234 kmVanuatu IslandsBMKG
6.0189 kmVanuatu IslandsGeoAu
6.1173 km69 Km SSW of Sola, VanuatuUSGS

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
Show more

User reports for this quake (4)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
Contribute:
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Flag as inappropriate.
Mark as helpful or interesting.
Send your own user report!
Translate
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 timeMag
Depth
LocationDetails
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, VanuatuMore
Aug 8, 2021 13:56
1 year 33 weeks ago
4.3

168 km
Coral Sea, 67 km S of Sola, Torba, VanuatuMore
Aug 6, 2021 18:00
1 year 33 weeks ago
4.5

119 km
Coral Sea, 54 km N of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore
Aug 6, 2021 13:35
1 year 34 weeks ago
5.2

202 km
Coral Sea, 52 km SW of Sola, Torba, VanuatuMore
Jul 22, 2021 02:24
1 year 36 weeks ago
5.5

29 km
Coral Sea, 91 km NW of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore
Jul 15, 2021 13:00
1 year 37 weeks ago
4.6

187 km
Coral Sea, 62 km S of Sola, Torba, VanuatuMore
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, VanuatuMore
Jun 9, 2021 20:41
1 year 42 weeks ago
4.5

26 km
Coral Sea, 45 km SW of Sola, Torba, VanuatuMore
May 10, 2021 06:39
1 year 46 weeks ago
4.4

116 km
Coral Sea, 82 km NE of Port-Olry, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore
May 3, 2021 13:58
1 year 47 weeks ago
4.5

182 km
Coral Sea, 62 km S of Sola, Torba, VanuatuMore
Apr 26, 2021 15:07
1 year 48 weeks ago
4.6

126 km
Coral Sea, 67 km N of Santo, Luganville, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore
Mar 23, 2021 12:40
2 years ago
5.0

10 km
Coral Sea, 72 km NW of Port-Olry, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore
Mar 19, 2021 17:57
2 years ago
5.0

10 km
Coral Sea, 60 km NW of Port-Olry, Sanma Province, VanuatuMore

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