Major magnitude 7.8 earthquake - Solomon Islands on Monday, January 30, 1939 at 02:18 GMT
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Major magnitude 7.8 earthquake at 35 km depth
Earthquake details
| Date & time | Jan 30, 1939 02:18:30 UTC |
| Local time at epicenter | |
| Status | Confirmed |
| Magnitude | 7.8 |
| Depth | 35.0 km |
| Epicenter latitude / longitude | 7.042°S / 155.468°E  (Solomon Sea, Solomon Islands) |
| Antipode | 7.042°N / 24.532°W |
| Shaking intensity | Very strong shaking near epicenter |
| Felt | 0 reports |
| Primary data source | USGS (United States Geological Survey) |
| Nearest volcano | Loloru (60 km / 37 mi) |
| Nearby towns and cities | 41 km (25 mi) SW of Buin (Papua New Guinea) (pop: 750) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 81 km (50 mi) S of Panguna (Papua New Guinea) (pop: 2,920) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 91 km (57 mi) S of Arawa (Papua New Guinea) (pop: 40,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 192 km (119 mi) NW of Gizo (New Georgia Group) (pop: 6,150) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 464 km (288 mi) SE of Kokopo (Papua New Guinea) (pop: 26,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 483 km (300 mi) SE of Rabaul (Papua New Guinea) (pop: 8,070) | Show on map | Quakes nearby |
| Estimated seismic energy released | 3.2 x 1016 joules (8784 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 7.6 x 106 tons of TNT or 472.4 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy |
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 |
| 7.8 | 35 km | Solomon Islands | USGS |
User reports for this quake
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
Aftershocks
[More info]
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (2 quakes)
Date and time | Mag Depth | Location | Details |
| Sep 12, 1940 13:17 82 years ago | 6.6 76 km | Latangai Island, New Ireland, 79 km E of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea | More |
| Mar 8, 1939 21:58 83 years ago | 6.3 35 km | 70 km SW of Arawa, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea | More |
Earlier earthquakes in the same area
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