M5.9 earthquake 92 km N of Hihifo, Tonga
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck 92 km N of Hihifo, Tonga on Sun, Jul 24, 2016, 9:09 AM GMT+13 (20:09 UTC), 37 km (23 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.9 (Mww, W-phase moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2016-07-23 20:09:23 UTC
- Depth
- 37.0 km (23.0 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 15.131° S, 173.673° W
- Region
- Tonga
- Felt reports
- 10
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.9 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.87 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 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 at Apia, Faleu, Paepae`ala, Siusega, Talimatau, Tulaele and Vailoa, Samoa. Also felt at Pago Pago, American Samoa.
From the USGS event page for us20006h4k. 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?
10 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
- Normal
- Moment magnitude
- 5.9 Mww
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 89°, dip 89°, rake -82°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 188°, dip 7°, rake -171°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 7.7 km horizontally, 1.9 km in depth
- Depth from
- From modeling of broad-band P waveforms
- Station coverage gap
- 20°
- Stations used
- 395
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.9 and up: 4 in the 60 days after this one and 8 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.888 km NE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3720 days ago · 21 km deep · 65 km away
- 4.7104 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3701 days ago · 10 km deep · 41 km away
- 4.462 km N of Hihifo, Tonga · 3701 days ago · 10 km deep · 36 km away
- 4.5121 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3671 days ago · 19 km deep · 31 km away
Before
- 6.0115 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3738 days ago · 8 km deep · 51 km away
- 5.8142 km NE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3738 days ago · 8 km deep · 86 km away
- 4.668 km N of Hihifo, Tonga · 3738 days ago · 67 km deep · 32 km away
- 4.414 km N of Hihifo, Tonga · 3738 days ago · 70 km deep · 78 km away
- 4.7141 km NE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3745 days ago · 40 km deep · 79 km away
- 4.6135 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3746 days ago · 30 km deep · 59 km away
- 4.687 km NE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3746 days ago · 20 km deep · 60 km away
- 4.544 km WNW of Hihifo, Tonga · 3754 days ago · 176 km deep · 85 km away
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us20006h4k (also filed as gcmt20160723200919, iscgem609259696). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 4:21 AM UTC.