M5.0 earthquake 93 km SSE of Lata, Solomon Islands
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck 93 km SSE of Lata, Solomon Islands on Thu, Aug 20, 1981, 1:19 PM GMT+11 (02:19 UTC), 71 km (44 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.0 (mb, body-wave), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 1981-08-20 02:19:48 UTC
- Depth
- 70.7 km (43.9 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 11.488° S, 166.164° E
- Region
- Solomon Islands
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Magnitude estimates
Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | mb, body-wave | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed · 14 stations |
| 5.31 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.3 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.0 and up: 1 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
Before
Earthquakes todaySolomon Islands earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0001fck (also filed as gcmtb082081a, gcmt19810820021948, iscgem613261). Read Thu, Oct 1, 2026, 5:55 AM UTC.