M6.9 earthquake Fiji region
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck in the Fiji region on Sat, May 28, 2016, 6:38 PM GMT+13 (05:38 UTC), 406 km (252 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 6.9 (Mww, W-phase moment), strong
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2016-05-28 05:38:50 UTC
- Depth
- 405.7 km (252.1 mi), deep
- Epicenter
- 21.972° S, 178.204° W
- Region
- Fiji
- Felt reports
- 1
- Strongest shaking
- III, weak shaking
- PAGER alert
- Green
- Tsunami flag
- Yes: a large quake in an oceanic region
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.9 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 6.92 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 6.6 | Mi | NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center | Reviewed · 3 stations |
| 6.8 | Mwb, body-wave moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Reviewed |
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Felt at Nuku`alofa, Tonga.
From the USGS event page for us20005yqp. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Tsunami
The USGS flags a quake this large in an oceanic region. The flag does not mean a tsunami happened; the tsunami warning centers decide that, and their messages are below when they issued any.
Current tsunami warnings: tsunami.gov. Warnings in force in the US also appear on our alerts pages.
Shaking
The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.
- Strongest estimated
- III, weak shaking
- Map
- Automatic
Did you feel it?
1 person reported to the USGS what they felt; the strongest reported shaking was III, weak shaking.
Estimated impact
The USGS PAGER system estimates deaths and economic losses from the shaking and the population and buildings exposed to it.
- Alert level
- Green: little or no damage or loss of life expected
Fault motion and ground failure
How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.
- Faulting
- Normal
- Moment magnitude
- 6.9 Mww
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 36°, dip 72°, rake -81°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 191°, dip 20°, rake -114°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 8.9 km horizontally, 3.4 km in depth
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 19°
- Stations used
- 423
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 3.9 and up: 8 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.4Fiji region · 3776 days ago · 551 km deep · 88 km away
- 4.3290 km W of Haveluloto, Tonga · 3775 days ago · 473 km deep · 95 km away
- 4.2south of the Fiji Islands · 3755 days ago · 474 km deep · 53 km away
- 4.4Fiji region · 3748 days ago · 544 km deep · 96 km away
- 4.4south of the Fiji Islands · 3746 days ago · 551 km deep · 68 km away
- 4.2295 km WSW of Haveluloto, Tonga · 3744 days ago · 364 km deep · 44 km away
- 4.2259 km WSW of Haveluloto, Tonga · 3743 days ago · 338 km deep · 73 km away
- 4.4Fiji region · 3738 days ago · 10 km deep · 15 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayFiji earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us20005yqp (also filed as pt16149050, gcmt20160528053851, at00o7vh0q, iscgem611829874). Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 12:08 PM UTC.