Strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 135 km south of Nuku\'alofa, Tongatapu, on Sunday, 4 November 1956 at 07:05 (GMT)
Quake Data | Interactive map | User Reports | Aftershocks | Earlier quakes in same area | Quakes in Tonga| ʻEua | Tongatapu | Ha‘apai | Vava‘u

Strong magnitude 6.3 earthquake at 49 km depth
Date & time: 4 Nov 1956 07:05:49 UTC
Magnitude: 6.3
Depth: 48.7 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 22.326°S / 175.486°W

Nearest volcano: Ata Volcanic Complex (74 km / 46 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
124 km (77 mi) SSW of ‘Ohonua (Ohonua) (pop: 1,240) --> See nearby quakes!
135 km (84 mi) SSW of Nuku'alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
135 km (84 mi) SSW of Nuku‘alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
140 km (87 mi) SSW of Kolonga (pop: 1,100) --> See nearby quakes!
303 km (188 mi) SSW of Pangai (pop: 1,740) --> See nearby quakes!
438 km (272 mi) SSW of Neiafu (pop: 4,320) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 1.8 x 1014 joules (49.4 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 42502 tons of TNT or 2.7 atomic bombs!) More info
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.
Magnitude | Depth | Location | Source |
M 6.3 | 49 km | Tonga region | USGS |
User reports for this quake
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
be the first to report it!
There are no user reports for this quake yet. If you felt it Aftershocks
More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (1 quakes):- 29 Dec 1956 20:22 UTC| M 6.2 |15 km (9.3 mi) depth|60 km (37 mi) distance| USGS | Very strong mag. 6.2 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 152 km south of Nuku'alofa, Tongatapu, on Saturday, 29 December 1956 at 20:22 (GMT)
Earlier earthquakes in the same area
Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900!