M5.4 earthquake 212 km WNW of Pangai, Tonga
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 212 km WNW of Pangai, Tonga on Wed, Aug 12, 2015, 2:49 AM GMT+13 (13:49 UTC), 10 km (6 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
- 2015-08-11 13:49:04 UTC
- Depth
- 10.0 km (6.2 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 19.172° S, 176.258° 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 |
| 5.41 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
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
- Moment magnitude
- 5.4 Mwc
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 122°, dip 88°, rake -160°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 32°, dip 70°, rake -2°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 6.7 km horizontally, 1.6 km in depth
- Depth from
- Operator assigned
- Station coverage gap
- 61°
- Stations used
- 88
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.4 and up: 2 in the 60 days after this one and 3 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.4205 km NW of Nuku‘alofa, Tonga · 4056 days ago · 10 km deep · 61 km away
- 4.4148 km W of Pangai, Tonga · 4033 days ago · 183 km deep · 84 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us1000313a (also filed as gcmt20150811134904, iscgem607648574). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 11:03 PM UTC.