Strong mag. 5.1 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 110 km east of Neiafu, Vava‘u, Tonga, on Sunday, 3 Jan 2021 5:57 pm (GMT +13) -

Strong mag. 5.1 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 110 km east of Neiafu, Vava‘u, Tonga, on Sunday, 3 Jan 2021 5:57 pm (GMT +13)

Strong magnitude 5.1 earthquake at 10 km depth

3 Jan 05:16 UTC: First to report: USGS after 18 minutes.
Update Sun, 3 Jan 2021, 05:21
Significant magnitude 5.1 earthquake 110 km southeast of Neiafu, Tonga
5.1 quake 3 Jan 5:57 pm (GMT +13)
5.1 quake 3 Jan 5:57 pm (GMT +13)
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake near Neiafu, Vava'u, Tonga, was reported only 23 minutes ago by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), considered one of the key international agencies that monitor seismic activity worldwide. The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 10 km beneath the epicenter in the afternoon on Sunday 3 January 2021 at 5:57 pm local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) which listed the quake at magnitude 5.1 as well.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Neiafu (pop. 4,300) located 110 km from the epicenter.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.
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Earthquake data:

Date & time: 3 Jan 2021 04:57:50 UTC -
Local time at epicenter: Sunday, 3 Jan 2021 5:57 pm (GMT +13)
Magnitude: 5.1
Depth: 10.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 19.0225°S / 173.0205°W (South Pacific Ocean, Tonga)
Nearest volcano: Unnamed 18.325°S/174.365°W (162 km / 101 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
110 km (68 mi) ESE of Neiafu (pop: 4,320) --> See nearby quakes!
165 km (103 mi) ENE of Pangai (pop: 1,740) --> See nearby quakes!
317 km (197 mi) NE of Kolonga (pop: 1,100) --> See nearby quakes!
326 km (203 mi) W of Alofi (Niue) (pop: 624) --> See nearby quakes!
327 km (203 mi) NE of ‘Ohonua (Ohonua) (pop: 1,240) --> See nearby quakes!
328 km (204 mi) NE of Nuku'alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
328 km (204 mi) NE of Nuku‘alofa (pop: 22,400) --> See nearby quakes!
334 km (207 mi) W of Hakupu (Niue) (pop: 221) --> See nearby quakes!
336 km (209 mi) W of Mutalau (Niue) (pop: 133) --> See nearby quakes!
351 km (218 mi) SSE of Hihifo (pop: 815) --> See nearby quakes!
Weather at epicenter at time of quake:
Overcast Clouds 26.9°C (80 F), humidity: 71%, wind: 1 m/s (3 kts) from N
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 2.8 x 1012 joules (783 megawatt hours, equivalent to 674 tons of TNT) More info
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If you felt this quake (or if you were near the epicenter), please share your experience and submit a short "I felt it" report! Other users would love to hear about it!
Also if you did NOT feel the quake although you were in the area, please report it! Your contribution is valuable also to earthquake science and earthquake hazard analysis and mitigation efforts. You can use your device location or the map to indicate where you were during the earthquake. Thank you!

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
5.110 km- 109 km ESE of Neiafu, TongaUSGS
5.110 kmTONGAEMSC
4.944 kmTonga IslandsGFZ

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

Please check again later while we are collecting more data.

Earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900


Map of earlier quakes

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