Moderate mag. 5.4 earthquake - Tonga (Samoa) on Saturday, 20 August 1988 at 19:52 (GMT)

Moderate mag. 5.4 earthquake - Tonga (Samoa) on Saturday, 20 August 1988 at 19:52 (GMT)

Moderate magnitude 5.4 earthquake at 33 km depth

Date & time: 20 Aug 1988 19:52:43 UTC
Magnitude: 5.4
Depth: 33.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 15.14°S / 173.511°W (Samoa)
Nearest volcano: West Mata (26 km / 16 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
96 km (59 mi) NNE of Hihifo (Tonga) (pop: 815) --> See nearby quakes!
201 km (125 mi) SW of Vailoa (pop: 769) --> See nearby quakes!
203 km (126 mi) SSW of Asau (pop: 6,640) --> See nearby quakes!
215 km (134 mi) SW of Mulifanua (pop: 4,510) --> See nearby quakes!
223 km (138 mi) SSW of Safotu (pop: 1,210) --> See nearby quakes!
225 km (140 mi) SW of Fasito‘outa (pop: 2,100) --> See nearby quakes!
238 km (148 mi) SW of Apia (pop: 40,400) --> See nearby quakes!
249 km (155 mi) SW of Lufilufi (pop: 1,070) --> See nearby quakes!
313 km (195 mi) WSW of Tāfuna (Tualauta, American Samoa) (pop: 11,000) --> See nearby quakes!
317 km (197 mi) WSW of Pago Pago (Ma'Oputasi, American Samoa) (pop: 11,500) --> 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 of the 5.4 quake Tonga (Samoa) 20 August 1988 19:52 GMT

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (0 quakes):
So far, no aftershocks have been registered.
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Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Moderate mag. 5.4 earthquake - Tonga (Samoa) on Saturday, 20 August 1988 at 19:52 (GMT)
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