M5.1 earthquake 142 km SSW of Hihifo, Tonga
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck 142 km SSW of Hihifo, Tonga on Fri, Dec 21, 2007, 4:50 PM GMT-12 (04:50 UTC), 85 km (53 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.1 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2007-12-22 04:50:43 UTC
- Depth
- 84.5 km (52.5 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 17.216° S, 174.076° 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.13 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.1 | 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 usp000fuzr. 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 284°, dip 34°, rake -3°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 16°, dip 88°, rake -124°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Depth from
- CONSTRAINED_BY_DEPTH_PHASES
- Station coverage gap
- 82°
- Stations used
- 132
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.1 and up: 7 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.7144 km SSW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6860 days ago · 78 km deep · 7 km away
- 3.6152 km SW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6844 days ago · 143 km deep · 61 km away
- 4.7149 km SSW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6831 days ago · 97 km deep · 31 km away
- 3.7119 km SSW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6830 days ago · 172 km deep · 50 km away
- 4.4141 km S of Hihifo, Tonga · 6824 days ago · 59 km deep · 23 km away
- 3.996 km SSE of Hihifo, Tonga · 6819 days ago · 35 km deep · 76 km away
- 3.8142 km SW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6800 days ago · 179 km deep · 83 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000fuzr (also filed as gcmtc200712220450a, gcmt20071222045043, iscgem13294939). Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 1:47 AM UTC.