Strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - Tonga on Wednesday, 4 November 1981 at 14:38 (GMT)

Strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - Tonga on Wednesday, 4 November 1981 at 14:38 (GMT)

Strong magnitude 6.3 earthquake at 33 km depth

Date & time: 4 Nov 1981 14:38:10 UTC
Magnitude: 6.3
Depth: 33.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 20.046°S / 174.276°W (Tonga)
Nearest volcano: Tofua (89 km / 55 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
27 km (17 mi) SSE of Pangai (pop: 1,740) --> See nearby quakes!
146 km (91 mi) NE of Kolonga (pop: 1,100) --> See nearby quakes!
155 km (96 mi) NE of Nuku'alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
155 km (96 mi) NE of Nuku‘alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
158 km (98 mi) S of Neiafu (pop: 4,320) --> See nearby quakes!
159 km (99 mi) NNE of ‘Ohonua (Ohonua) (pop: 1,240) --> 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
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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 6.333 kmTongaUSGS
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 of the 6.3 quake Tonga 4 November 1981 14:38 GMT

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (5 quakes):
  • 08 Apr 1982 11:40 UTC
    | M 5.5 |
    41 km (25.5 mi) depth
    |
    64 km (40 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 24 Mar 1982 00:50 UTC
    | M 5.3 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    83 km (52 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 21 Dec 1981 10:48 UTC
    | M 4.8 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    16 km (10 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 01 Jan 1970 00:00 UTC
    | M |
    0 km (0 mi) depth
    |
    17706 km (11002 mi) distance
    | | Details
  • 16 Dec 1981 20:45 UTC
    | M 4.9 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    71 km (44 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details

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Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - Tonga on Wednesday, 4 November 1981 at 14:38 (GMT)
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