Fiji earthquakes

M5.4 earthquake Fiji region

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck in the Fiji region on Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 9:08 AM GMT+13 (20:08 UTC), 606 km (376 mi) below the surface.

A larger quake followed: M5.6 Fiji region. This one was a foreshock.

Nuku‘alofa forecast More in Fiji

Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 5.4 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 9:08 AM GMT+13
UTC: 2008-12-09 20:08:47 UTC
Depth: 605.5 km (376.2 mi), deep
Epicenter: 20.237° S, 178.660° W
Region: Fiji
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
5.41	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 usp000gqa0. 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 163°, dip 37°, rake -177°
Nodal plane 2: Strike 71°, dip 88°, rake -53°

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Depth from: CONSTRAINED_BY_DEPTH_PHASES
Station coverage gap: 39°
Stations used: 218

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nuku‘alofa, TongaPopulation 22,400. Forecast373 kmWNW

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 2.4 and up: 16 in the 60 days after this one and 11 in the 30 days before it.

After

Before

Earthquakes today Fiji earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000gqa0 (also filed as gcmtb200812092008a, gcmt20081209200847, iscgem13402356). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 4:40 AM UTC.