Strong mag. 5.4 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 239 km southwest of Apia, Tuamasaga, Samoa, on Wednesday, 6 September 1978 at 23:26 (GMT)

Strong mag. 5.4 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 239 km southwest of Apia, Tuamasaga, Samoa, on Wednesday, 6 September 1978 at 23:26 (GMT)

Strong magnitude 5.4 earthquake at 33 km depth

Date & time: 6 Sep 1978 23:26:23 UTC
Magnitude: 5.4
Depth: 33.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 15.361°S / 173.33°W (South Pacific Ocean, Samoa)
Nearest volcano: Curacoa (46 km / 29 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
210 km (130 mi) SSW of Vailoa (pop: 769) --> See nearby quakes!
218 km (135 mi) SSW of Asau (pop: 6,640) --> See nearby quakes!
220 km (137 mi) SW of Mulifanua (pop: 4,510) --> See nearby quakes!
235 km (146 mi) SSW of Safotu (pop: 1,210) --> See nearby quakes!
236 km (146 mi) SW of Afega (Malie) (pop: 1,900) --> See nearby quakes!
239 km (149 mi) SW of Apia (pop: 40,400) --> See nearby quakes!
249 km (155 mi) SW of Lufilufi (pop: 1,070) --> See nearby quakes!
307 km (191 mi) WSW of Pago Pago (Ma'Oputasi, American Samoa) (pop: 11,500) --> See nearby quakes!
384 km (239 mi) SE of Mata-Utu (Hahake, Wallis & Futuna) (pop: 1,200) --> See nearby quakes!
548 km (340 mi) NW of Alofi (Niue) (pop: 624) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 7.9 x 1012 joules (2.21 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 1898 tons of TNT or 0.1 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 5.433 kmTonga (Samoa)USGS
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 (2 quakes):
  • 22 Sep 1978 14:32 UTC
    | M 4.7 |
    47 km (29.2 mi) depth
    |
    24 km (15 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 11 Sep 1978 06:05 UTC
    | M 4.8 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    16 km (10 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details

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Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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