M5.4 earthquake 159 km W of Hihifo, Tonga
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 159 km W of Hihifo, Tonga on Fri, Jul 27, 2007, 8:53 PM GMT-12 (08:53 UTC), 313 km (194 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
- 2007-07-28 08:53:13 UTC
- Depth
- 312.7 km (194.3 mi), deep
- Epicenter
- 15.898° S, 175.288° 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 |
| 5.4 | 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 usp000fh8z. 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
- Oblique normal
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 265°, dip 43°, rake -56°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 42°, dip 55°, rake -118°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Station coverage gap
- 43°
- Stations used
- 343
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.4 and up: 6 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 3.8102 km WSW of Hihifo, Tonga · 7002 days ago · 418 km deep · 96 km away
- 3.6104 km W of Hihifo, Tonga · 6993 days ago · 291 km deep · 58 km away
- 3.8126 km SW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6977 days ago · 174 km deep · 100 km away
- 4.2106 km WSW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6974 days ago · 205 km deep · 84 km away
- 3.9144 km NW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6971 days ago · 235 km deep · 86 km away
- 4.6126 km WNW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6956 days ago · 258 km deep · 64 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000fh8z (also filed as gcmtb200707280853a, gcmt20070728085313, iscgem12780856). Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 12:14 PM UTC.