M5.0 earthquake 132 km W of Hihifo, Tonga
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck 132 km W of Hihifo, Tonga on Sun, Mar 16, 2008, 7:56 AM GMT-12 (19:56 UTC), 35 km (22 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.4 132 km W of Hihifo, Tonga. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.0 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2008-03-16 19:56:49 UTC
- Depth
- 35.0 km (21.7 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 15.963° S, 175.038° 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.02 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.0 | 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 usp000g1mk. 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 99°, dip 86°, rake 178°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 190°, dip 88°, rake 4°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Depth from
- OPERATOR_ASSIGNED
- Station coverage gap
- 129°
- Stations used
- 16
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.0 and up: 8 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 3.8126 km W of Hihifo, Tonga · 6773 days ago · 10 km deep · 10 km away
- 5.2109 km NW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6772 days ago · 20 km deep · 97 km away
- 4.391 km SW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6772 days ago · 35 km deep · 94 km away
- 3.8177 km WNW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6759 days ago · 233 km deep · 100 km away
- 3.963 km W of Hihifo, Tonga · 6756 days ago · 149 km deep · 69 km away
- 4.3151 km WNW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6754 days ago · 284 km deep · 68 km away
- 5.4132 km W of Hihifo, Tonga · 6736 days ago · 303 km deep · 11 km away
- 4.9128 km NW of Hihifo, Tonga · 6736 days ago · 10 km deep · 85 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000g1mk (also filed as gcmtc200803161956a, gcmt20080316195649, iscgem13490208). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 11:36 PM UTC.