Strong mag. 6.8 earthquake - Tonga on Friday, 21 December 1990 at 05:29 (GMT)

Strong mag. 6.8 earthquake - Tonga on Friday, 21 December 1990 at 05:29 (GMT)

Strong magnitude 6.8 earthquake at 13 km depth

Date & time: 21 Dec 1990 05:29:28 UTC
Magnitude: 6.8
Depth: 13.3 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 20.467°S / 174.161°W (Tonga)
Nearest volcano: Feinga Seamount (110 km / 68 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
75 km (47 mi) SSE of Pangai (pop: 1,740) --> See nearby quakes!
120 km (74 mi) NE of Kolonga (pop: 1,100) --> See nearby quakes!
127 km (79 mi) NE of ‘Ohonua (Ohonua) (pop: 1,240) --> See nearby quakes!
132 km (82 mi) NE of Nuku'alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
132 km (82 mi) NE of Nuku‘alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
203 km (126 mi) S of Neiafu (pop: 4,320) --> See nearby quakes!
471 km (293 mi) WSW of Alofi (Niue) (pop: 624) --> See nearby quakes!
475 km (295 mi) WSW of Hakupu (Niue) (pop: 221) --> 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 6.813 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 6.8 quake Tonga 21 December 1990 05:29 GMT

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (16 quakes):
  • 12 May 1991 12:27 UTC
    | M 5.4 |
    34.4 km (21.4 mi) depth
    |
    140 km (87 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 02 May 1991 02:23 UTC
    | M 5.5 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    142 km (88 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 29 Apr 1991 06:54 UTC
    | M 5.3 |
    39 km (24.2 mi) depth
    |
    33 km (20 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 23 Apr 1991 23:55 UTC
    | M 4.7 |
    34.2 km (21.3 mi) depth
    |
    127 km (79 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 23 Apr 1991 01:47 UTC
    | M 4.9 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    92 km (57 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 30 Mar 1991 14:40 UTC
    | M 5.1 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    105 km (65 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 28 Feb 1991 17:58 UTC
    | M 4.6 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    10 km (6 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 22 Feb 1991 04:45 UTC
    | M 4.8 |
    40.1 km (24.9 mi) depth
    |
    67 km (41 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 16 Feb 1991 16:17 UTC
    | M 4.8 |
    36.5 km (22.7 mi) depth
    |
    56 km (35 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 05 Feb 1991 22:14 UTC
    | M 4.8 |
    32.3 km (20.1 mi) depth
    |
    130 km (81 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 01 Feb 1991 12:07 UTC
    | M 5.4 |
    23 km (14.3 mi) depth
    |
    128 km (80 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 18 Jan 1991 02:56 UTC
    | M 4.8 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    137 km (85 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 13 Jan 1991 09:34 UTC
    | M 4.8 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    126 km (78 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 01 Jan 1991 17:28 UTC
    | M 6.0 |
    29.1 km (18.1 mi) depth
    |
    82 km (51 mi) distance
    | USGS | Strong mag. 6.0 earthquake - Tonga on Tuesday, 1 January 1991 at 17:28 (GMT)
  • 30 Dec 1990 14:31 UTC
    | M 5.1 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    76 km (47 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 24 Dec 1990 08:22 UTC
    | M 5.3 |
    30.9 km (19.2 mi) depth
    |
    152 km (94 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details

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Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Strong mag. 6.8 earthquake - Tonga on Friday, 21 December 1990 at 05:29 (GMT)
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