M5.4 earthquake 263 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 263 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga on Sun, Dec 4, 2005, 3:49 PM GMT+13 (02:49 UTC), 32 km (20 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.4 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2005-12-04 02:49:23 UTC
- Depth
- 31.8 km (19.8 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 23.429° S, 176.167° W
- Region
- Tonga
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.4 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.37 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.4 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
no people dead or missing; no people injured; no buildings damaged or destroyed
From the USGS event page for usp000e5fu. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
Fault motion and ground failure
How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.
- Faulting
- Strike-slip
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 59°, dip 85°, rake 178°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 149°, dip 88°, rake 5°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Depth from
- FROM_LOCATION
- Station coverage gap
- 55°
- Stations used
- 139
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.4 and up: 1 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.
After
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000e5fu (also filed as gcmtc200512040249a, gcmt20051204024923, iscgem7781174). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 4:08 PM UTC.