M5.3 earthquake 144 km NE of Hihifo, Tonga
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 144 km NE of Hihifo, Tonga on Sat, Mar 12, 2016, 11:56 AM GMT+14 (21:56 UTC), 0 km (0 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.3 (mb, body-wave), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2016-03-11 21:56:28 UTC
- Depth
- 0.0 km (0.0 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 15.097° S, 172.779° W
- Region
- Tonga
- Felt reports
- 4
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.3 | mb, body-wave | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed · ±0.029 · 411 stations |
| 5.12 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Felt (III) at Pago Pago, American Samoa. Also felt at Tula.
From the USGS event page for us10004wvq. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Did you feel it?
4 people reported to the USGS what they felt; the strongest reported shaking was III, weak shaking.
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 6.9 km horizontally, 1.7 km in depth
- Magnitude uncertainty
- ±0.03
- Depth from
- Operator assigned
- Station coverage gap
- 30°
- Stations used
- 349
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.3 and up: 5 in the 60 days after this one and 4 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.594 km N of Hihifo, Tonga · 3838 days ago · 17 km deep · 97 km away
- 4.5141 km SSW of Gataivai, Samoa · 3818 days ago · 10 km deep · 24 km away
- 4.7110 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3810 days ago · 35 km deep · 63 km away
- 4.4107 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3802 days ago · 35 km deep · 62 km away
- 4.5108 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3801 days ago · 10 km deep · 50 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us10004wvq (also filed as iscgem608480400). Read Mon, Oct 5, 2026, 2:25 AM UTC.