Very strong mag. 6.8 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 206 km south of Nuku\'alofa, Tongatapu, on Wednesday, 22 June 1977 at 12:08 (GMT)

Very strong mag. 6.8 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 206 km south of Nuku\'alofa, Tongatapu, on Wednesday, 22 June 1977 at 12:08 (GMT)

Very strong magnitude 6.8 earthquake at 65 km depth

Date & time: 22 Jun 1977 12:08:33 UTC
Magnitude: 6.8
Depth: 65.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 22.878°S / 175.9°W (South Pacific Ocean, Tonga)
Nearest volcano: Ata Volcanic Complex (68 km / 42 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
198 km (123 mi) SSW of ‘Ohonua (Ohonua) (pop: 1,240) --> See nearby quakes!
206 km (128 mi) SSW of Nuku'alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
206 km (128 mi) SSW of Nuku‘alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
212 km (132 mi) SSW of Kolonga (pop: 1,100) --> See nearby quakes!
376 km (234 mi) SSW of Pangai (pop: 1,740) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 1 x 1015 joules (278 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 2.4 x 105 tons of TNT or 14.9 atomic bombs!) More info
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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.
MagnitudeDepthLocationSource
M 6.865 kmTonga regionUSGS
Note: for quakes of 2012 and earlier, our database often contains only records from USGS.

User reports for this quake

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
There are no user reports for this quake yet. If you felt it be the first to report it!
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Aftershocks

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (63 quakes):
  • 17 Dec 1977 16:07 UTC
    | M 5.1 |
    115 km (71.5 mi) depth
    |
    94 km (59 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 15 Dec 1977 15:51 UTC
    | M 4.9 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    84 km (52 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 09 Dec 1977 21:30 UTC
    | M 5.1 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    141 km (87 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 09 Dec 1977 05:01 UTC
    | M 5.1 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    72 km (44 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 08 Dec 1977 06:15 UTC
    | M 6.1 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    145 km (90 mi) distance
    | USGS | Strong mag. 6.1 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, Tonga, on Thursday, 8 December 1977 at 06:15 (GMT)
  • 08 Dec 1977 04:53 UTC
    | M 4.3 |
    153 km (95.1 mi) depth
    |
    70 km (44 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    17438 km (10835 mi) distance
    | | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    17438 km (10835 mi) distance
    | | Details
  • 07 Dec 1977 05:59 UTC
    | M 5.2 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    142 km (88 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 05 Dec 1977 14:13 UTC
    | M 5.9 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    115 km (72 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 05 Dec 1977 14:10 UTC
    | M 4.8 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    133 km (83 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 04 Dec 1977 05:50 UTC
    | M 6.2 |
    56 km (34.8 mi) depth
    |
    114 km (71 mi) distance
    | USGS | Strong mag. 6.2 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, Tonga, on Sunday, 4 December 1977 at 05:50 (GMT)
  • 03 Dec 1977 17:59 UTC
    | M 5.3 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    139 km (86 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 01 Nov 1977 08:25 UTC
    | M 5.0 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    129 km (80 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 05 Oct 1977 13:28 UTC
    | M 4.8 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    37 km (23 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 21 Sep 1977 09:27 UTC
    | M 5.5 |
    15 km (9.3 mi) depth
    |
    98 km (61 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
    • Show all

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Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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