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Very strong mag. 6.2 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, Tonga, on Thursday, Jan 27, 2022 at 7:40 pm (GMT +13) -

Very strong mag. 6.2 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, Tonga, on Thursday, Jan 27, 2022 at 7:40 pm (GMT +13) Very strong mag. 6.2 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, Tonga, on Thursday, Jan 27, 2022 at 7:40 pm (GMT +13)

Very strong magnitude 6.2 earthquake at 4 km depth

27 Jan 06:51 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 12 minutes.
27 Jan 06:54: Magnitude recalculated from 5.8 to 5.7. Epicenter location corrected by 9.7 km (6 mi) towards WNW.
27 Jan 07:00: Now using data updates from USGS
27 Jan 07:26: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 14.5 to 4.2 km (from 9 to 2.6 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 8.7 km (5.4 mi) towards NNW.

Earthquake details

Date & timeJan 27, 2022 06:40:05 UTC -
Local time at epicenterThursday, Jan 27, 2022 at 7:40 pm (GMT +13)
StatusConfirmed
Magnitude6.2
Depth4.2 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude19.0681°S / 176.3494°W (South Pacific Ocean, Tonga)
Antipode19.068°N / 3.651°E
Shaking intensityVery strong shaking near epicenter
Felt2 reports
Primary data sourceUSGS (United States Geological Survey)
Nearest volcanoKao (154 km / 96 mi)
Nearby towns and cities225 km (140 mi) WNW of Bangai (Pangai) (pop: 1,740) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
253 km (157 mi) W of Neiafu (pop: 4,320) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
260 km (161 mi) NNW of Nukalofa (Nuku'alofa) (pop: 22,400) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
260 km (161 mi) NNW of Nuku‘alofa (pop: 22,400) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
266 km (165 mi) NNW of Kolonga (pop: 1,100) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
291 km (181 mi) NNW of ‘Ohonua (Ohonua) (pop: 1,240) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
440 km (273 mi) SW of Hihifo (pop: 815) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
264 km (164 mi) NNW of Amsterdam Island (pop: 75,000) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quakeClear Sky 28.5°C (83 F), humidity: 73%, wind: 6 m/s (11 kts) from E
Estimated seismic energy released1.3 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.DepthLocationSource
6.24.2 km225 Km WNW of Pangai, TongaUSGS
6.210 kmTonga: FIJI REGIONEMSC
6.24.2 kmTonga: Fiji Islands RegionRaspberryShake
5.310 kmTonga: Near NouméaRENASS
6.227 kmTonga: Fiji Islands RegionGFZ
6.339 kmTonga: Fiji Islands RegionGeoAu
6.013 kmTonga [Sea]INGV

Seismograms

Seismic station: Tucson, Arizona (TUC/IU network) | Distance from quake: 9011 km / 5599 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
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User reports for this quake (6)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
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Mangaia, Cook Islands / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short : Heard a muffled short explosion Felt a shock wave on the floor | 2 users found this interesting.  
Suva / not felt : No Quake | 2 users found this interesting.  
Brisbane (3257.1 km WSW of epicenter) [Map] / not felt
Mangaia, Cook Islands / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short : Heard a muffled short explosion Felt a shock wave on the floor  
Sydney Australia / not felt
Fiji Islands / not felt (reported through our app)

Aftershocks

Please check again later while we are collecting more data.

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