M5.1 earthquake Fiji region
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck in the Fiji region on Sat, Nov 4, 1978, 4:57 PM GMT-12 (04:57 UTC), 89 km (55 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.3 Fiji region. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.1 (mb, body-wave), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 1978-11-05 04:57:34 UTC
- Depth
- 89.0 km (55.3 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 17.649° S, 176.959° W
- Region
- Fiji
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Stations used
- 16
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.1 and up: 1 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.
After
Earthquakes todayFiji earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0000x9j. Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 9:05 AM UTC.