M5.4 earthquake 225 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 225 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga on Wed, Mar 11, 1981, 10:28 PM GMT+13 (09:28 UTC), 33 km (21 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.5 234 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.4 (mb), moderate
- Local time
- UTC
- 1981-03-11 09:28:35 UTC
- Depth
- 33.0 km (20.5 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 23.329° S, 175.389° W
- Region
- Tonga
- 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.
- Depth from
- OPERATOR_ASSIGNED
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.4 and up: 5 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.1269 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 16636 days ago · 33 km deep · 46 km away
- 4.6210 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 16636 days ago · 33 km deep · 15 km away
- 4.5224 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 16631 days ago · 33 km deep · 23 km away
- 5.5234 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 16606 days ago · 35 km deep · 10 km away
- 5.2236 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 16603 days ago · 40 km deep · 27 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0001cn8 (also filed as iscgem629696). Read Sun, Sep 27, 2026, 4:54 PM UTC.