Very strong mag. 6.0 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 141 km south of Nuku\'alofa, Tongatapu, on Saturday, 15 September 2001 at 15:04 (GMT)

Very strong mag. 6.0 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 141 km south of Nuku\'alofa, Tongatapu, on Saturday, 15 September 2001 at 15:04 (GMT)

Very strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake at 10 km depth

Date & time: 15 Sep 2001 15:04:34 UTC
Magnitude: 6
Depth: 10.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 22.393°S / 175.01°W (South Pacific Ocean, Tonga)
Nearest volcano: Ata Volcanic Complex (124 km / 77 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
118 km (73 mi) S of ‘Ohonua (Ohonua) (pop: 1,240) --> See nearby quakes!
140 km (87 mi) S of Kolonga (pop: 1,100) --> See nearby quakes!
141 km (88 mi) S of Nuku'alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
141 km (88 mi) S of Nuku‘alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
295 km (183 mi) SSW of Pangai (pop: 1,740) --> See nearby quakes!
430 km (267 mi) SSW of Neiafu (pop: 4,320) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 6.3 x 1013 joules (17.5 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 15080 tons of TNT or 0.9 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 6.010 kmTonga regionUSGS
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 (8 quakes):
  • 17 Nov 2001 00:16 UTC
    | M 4.5 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    44 km (27 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 15 Oct 2001 06:39 UTC
    | M 4.6 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    38 km (23 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 04 Oct 2001 22:38 UTC
    | M 4.3 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    32 km (20 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 03 Oct 2001 02:19 UTC
    | M 4.2 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    55 km (34 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 19 Sep 2001 06:48 UTC
    | M 3.8 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    24 km (15 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 17 Sep 2001 16:21 UTC
    | M 4.9 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    12 km (7 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 17 Sep 2001 15:40 UTC
    | M 4.3 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    33 km (21 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details
  • 16 Sep 2001 00:27 UTC
    | M 4.5 |
    10 km (6.2 mi) depth
    |
    15 km (9 mi) distance
    | USGS | Details

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Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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