M5.8 earthquake Tonga
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck in Tonga on Wed, Nov 16, 2016, 2:30 PM GMT+14 (00:30 UTC), 20 km (12 mi) below the surface.
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
- 2016-11-16 00:30:29 UTC
- Depth
- 20.0 km (12.4 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 20.239° S, 173.016° W
- Region
- Tonga
- Strongest shaking
- III, weak 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 |
| 5.77 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.8 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Reviewed |
| 5.6 | Mwb, body-wave moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Reviewed |
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?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
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 183°, dip 63°, rake 78°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 29°, dip 29°, rake 113°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 7.9 km horizontally, 1.8 km in depth
- Depth from
- From modeling of broad-band P waveforms
- Station coverage gap
- 18°
- Stations used
- 155
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.8 and up: 4 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.2116 km SE of Pangai, Tonga · 3582 days ago · 10 km deep · 76 km away
- 5.4125 km E of Pangai, Tonga · 3577 days ago · 10 km deep · 37 km away
- 4.5136 km SSE of Pangai, Tonga · 3570 days ago · 10 km deep · 97 km away
- 4.8121 km ESE of Pangai, Tonga · 3550 days ago · 10 km deep · 29 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us100078ll (also filed as iscgem615041471). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 1:54 PM UTC.