M5.8 earthquake Fiji region
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck in the Fiji region on Wed, Oct 7, 1981, 4:02 PM GMT+13 (03:02 UTC), 620 km (385 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.9 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
- 5.8 (mb), moderate
- Local time
- UTC
- 1981-10-07 03:02:13 UTC
- Depth
- 619.9 km (385.2 mi), deep
- Epicenter
- 20.752° S, 178.632° 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.
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.8 and up: 3 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.1Fiji region · 16425 days ago · 455 km deep · 62 km away
- 5.3267 km W of Haveluloto, Tonga · 16389 days ago · 504 km deep · 93 km away
- 5.9Fiji region · 16376 days ago · 614 km deep · 32 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayFiji earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0001gau (also filed as gcmtb100781a, gcmt19811007030214, iscgem609638). Read Sun, Sep 27, 2026, 1:05 AM UTC.