M5.4 earthquake Fiji region
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck in the Fiji region on Sun, Feb 8, 2009, 10:51 AM GMT+13 (21:51 UTC), 544 km (338 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.5 220 km WNW of Haveluloto, Tonga. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.4 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2009-02-07 21:51:56 UTC
- Depth
- 543.5 km (337.7 mi), deep
- Epicenter
- 20.538° S, 178.214° 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 |
| 5.42 | 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 usp000gthm. 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 240°, dip 32°, rake -91°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 61°, dip 58°, rake -89°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Depth from
- CONSTRAINED_BY_DEPTH_PHASES
- Station coverage gap
- 38°
- Stations used
- 254
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.4 and up: 8 in the 60 days after this one and 3 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.5220 km WNW of Haveluloto, Tonga · 6442 days ago · 10 km deep · 99 km away
- 4.5278 km WNW of Haveluloto, Tonga · 6441 days ago · 502 km deep · 41 km away
- 4.6Fiji region · 6438 days ago · 582 km deep · 47 km away
- 4.6283 km WNW of Haveluloto, Tonga · 6434 days ago · 514 km deep · 37 km away
- 4.6296 km WNW of Haveluloto, Tonga · 6419 days ago · 544 km deep · 80 km away
- 4.7Fiji region · 6408 days ago · 619 km deep · 59 km away
- 4.6Fiji region · 6408 days ago · 601 km deep · 43 km away
- 4.7279 km W of Haveluloto, Tonga · 6397 days ago · 125 km deep · 67 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayFiji earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000gthm (also filed as gcmtb200902072151a, gcmt20090207215156, iscgem13434374). Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 9:55 AM UTC.