M5.8 earthquake 91 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck 91 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga on Sun, Feb 7, 2016, 4:03 PM GMT+14 (02:03 UTC), 51 km (32 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.9 101 km NNE 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
- 5.8 (Mww, W-phase moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2016-02-07 02:03:40 UTC
- Depth
- 51.0 km (31.7 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 15.222° S, 173.395° W
- Region
- Tonga
- Felt reports
- 4
- Strongest shaking
- IV, light shaking
- PAGER alert
- Green
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.8 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.78 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 6.0 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Preliminary |
| 5.8 | 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 (II) at Pago Pago, American Samoa. Felt at Tulaele, Samoa.
From the USGS event page for us20004yh2. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Shaking
The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.
- Strongest estimated
- IV, light shaking
- Map
- Automatic
Did you feel it?
4 people reported to the USGS what they felt; the strongest reported shaking was IV, light 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
- Reverse (thrust)
- Moment magnitude
- 5.8 Mww
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 309°, dip 82°, rake 81°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 178°, dip 11°, rake 139°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 9.2 km horizontally, 1.8 km in depth
- Depth from
- Operator assigned
- Station coverage gap
- 41°
- Stations used
- 210
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.8 and up: 13 in the 60 days after this one and 4 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.7101 km ENE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3891 days ago · 10 km deep · 63 km away
- 4.589 km NE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3886 days ago · 10 km deep · 25 km away
- 4.3117 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3876 days ago · 35 km deep · 27 km away
- 4.454 km NNW of Hihifo, Tonga · 3873 days ago · 184 km deep · 76 km away
- 4.4111 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3865 days ago · 47 km deep · 21 km away
- 5.9101 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3863 days ago · 33 km deep · 13 km away · felt by 5
- 5.3144 km NE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3859 days ago · 0 km deep · 68 km away · felt by 4
- 4.521 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3858 days ago · 107 km deep · 71 km away
- 4.554 km NW of Hihifo, Tonga · 3849 days ago · 81 km deep · 98 km away
- 5.3143 km N of Hihifo, Tonga · 3845 days ago · 17 km deep · 71 km away
- 4.664 km N of Hihifo, Tonga · 3844 days ago · 51 km deep · 56 km away
- 4.594 km N of Hihifo, Tonga · 3838 days ago · 17 km deep · 34 km away
- 4.694 km NNW of Hihifo, Tonga · 3834 days ago · 77 km deep · 69 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us20004yh2 (also filed as gcmt20160207020340, iscgem611445213). Read Mon, Oct 5, 2026, 7:38 AM UTC.