Major magnitude 7.0 earthquake - 22 km northwest of Nakaza Island, Solomon Islands, on Monday, August 17, 1959 at 21:04 GMT
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Major magnitude 7.0 earthquake at 25 km depth
Earthquake details
| Date & time | Aug 17, 1959 21:04:48 UTC |
| Local time at epicenter | |
| Status | Confirmed |
| Magnitude | 7 |
| Depth | 25.0 km |
| Epicenter latitude / longitude | 7.776°S / 156.328°E  (Solomon Sea, Solomon Islands) |
| Antipode | 7.776°N / 23.672°W |
| Shaking intensity | Very strong shaking near epicenter |
| Felt | 0 reports |
| Primary data source | USGS (United States Geological Survey) |
| Nearest volcano | Nonda (32 km / 20 mi) |
| Nearby towns and cities | 67 km (42 mi) WNW of Gizo (New Georgia Group) (pop: 6,150) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 134 km (83 mi) SSE of Buin (Papua New Guinea) (pop: 750) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 187 km (116 mi) SSE of Panguna (Papua New Guinea) (pop: 2,920) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 191 km (119 mi) SSE of Arawa (Papua New Guinea) (pop: 40,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 362 km (225 mi) W of Buala (pop: 2,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 429 km (267 mi) WNW of Malango (pop: 10,500) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 439 km (273 mi) WNW of Honiara (pop: 56,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby |
| Estimated seismic energy released | 2 x 1015 joules (554 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 4.8 x 105 tons of TNT or 29.8 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 |
| 7.0 | 25 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 (4 quakes)
Date and time | Mag Depth | Location | Details |
| Feb 6, 1961 21:45 62 years ago | 6.5 45 km | 65 km S of Arawa, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea | More |
| Oct 4, 1960 09:51 62 years ago | 5.9 35 km | Solomon Islands | More |
| Feb 24, 1960 21:37 63 years ago | 6.2 50 km | Alu Island, Solomon Islands | More |
| Nov 5, 1959 17:38 63 years ago | 5.9 15 km | Solomon Islands | More |
Earlier earthquakes in the same area
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