Strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 135 km southwest of Nuku\'alofa, Tongatapu, on Saturday, 12 October 1985 at 02:12 (GMT)

Strong mag. 6.3 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 135 km southwest of Nuku\'alofa, Tongatapu, on Saturday, 12 October 1985 at 02:12 (GMT)

Strong magnitude 6.3 earthquake at 155 km depth

Date & time: 12 Oct 1985 02:12:57 UTC
Magnitude: 6.3
Depth: 155.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 21.656°S / 176.382°W (South Pacific Ocean, Tonga)
Nearest volcano: Ata Volcanic Complex (78 km / 48 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
133 km (83 mi) WSW of Haveluloto (pop: 3,420) --> See nearby quakes!
135 km (84 mi) WSW of Nuku'alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
135 km (84 mi) WSW of Nuku‘alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
148 km (92 mi) WSW of Kolonga (pop: 1,100) --> See nearby quakes!
152 km (95 mi) WSW of ‘Ohonua (Ohonua) (pop: 1,240) --> See nearby quakes!
294 km (183 mi) SW of Pangai (pop: 1,740) --> See nearby quakes!
418 km (260 mi) SW 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
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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 6.3155 kmFiji region (Tonga)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.
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Aftershocks

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (2 quakes):
  • 25 Mar 1986 08:00 UTC
    | M 5.4 |
    192 km (119.3 mi) depth
    |
    54 km (33 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 17 Dec 1985 21:41 UTC
    | M 5.4 |
    194.5 km (120.9 mi) depth
    |
    28 km (17 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details

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Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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