M5.3 earthquake 175 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 175 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga on Wed, Mar 29, 2006, 7:38 PM GMT+13 (06:38 UTC), 46 km (29 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.3 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2006-03-29 06:38:23 UTC
- Depth
- 46.4 km (28.8 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 22.911° S, 175.109° 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.3 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.28 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.3 | 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 usp000ed6k. 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
- Normal
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 11°, dip 16°, rake -111°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 213°, dip 75°, rake -84°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Depth from
- CONSTRAINED_BY_DEPTH_PHASES
- Station coverage gap
- 55°
- Stations used
- 122
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.3 and up: 15 in the 60 days after this one and 5 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.0159 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7494 days ago · 22 km deep · 22 km away
- 5.1182 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7494 days ago · 25 km deep · 10 km away
- 4.9164 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7494 days ago · 27 km deep · 22 km away
- 4.8173 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7494 days ago · 25 km deep · 16 km away
- 4.4142 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7494 days ago · 25 km deep · 42 km away
- 4.7236 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7494 days ago · 25 km deep · 67 km away
- 4.5145 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7493 days ago · 25 km deep · 30 km away
- 4.9242 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7490 days ago · 55 km deep · 81 km away
- 4.9148 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7490 days ago · 38 km deep · 46 km away
- 4.8187 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7488 days ago · 44 km deep · 15 km away
- 4.8156 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7488 days ago · 25 km deep · 29 km away
- 4.9191 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7488 days ago · 18 km deep · 17 km away
- 4.9161 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7485 days ago · 10 km deep · 21 km away
- 4.7163 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7481 days ago · 10 km deep · 25 km away
- 4.5103 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7459 days ago · 35 km deep · 77 km away
Before
- 4.6153 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7498 days ago · 35 km deep · 49 km away
- 4.4172 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7504 days ago · 35 km deep · 24 km away
- 4.7124 km SSE of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7513 days ago · 59 km deep · 74 km away
- 4.6153 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7519 days ago · 25 km deep · 50 km away
- 5.2174 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 7523 days ago · 10 km deep · 73 km away
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000ed6k (also filed as gcmtc200603290638a, gcmt20060329063824, iscgem10612735). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 8:46 AM UTC.