M4.8 earthquake 61 km SSE of Hihifo, Tonga
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck 61 km SSE of Hihifo, Tonga on Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 10:15 PM GMT+13 (09:15 UTC), 64 km (40 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.4 77 km SSE 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
- 4.8 (mb, body-wave), light
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2017-07-21 09:15:53 UTC
- Depth
- 63.6 km (39.5 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 16.452° S, 173.539° W
- Region
- Tonga
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.8 | mb, body-wave | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed · ±0.039 · 201 stations |
| 5.13 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 8.6 km horizontally, 5.2 km in depth
- Magnitude uncertainty
- ±0.04
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 58°
- Stations used
- 238
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.8 and up: 3 in the 60 days after this one and 3 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.1125 km SSW of Hihifo, Tonga · 3358 days ago · 130 km deep · 89 km away
- 4.536 km NNW of Hihifo, Tonga · 3327 days ago · 112 km deep · 98 km away
- 5.477 km SSE of Hihifo, Tonga · 3302 days ago · 30 km deep · 23 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us20009yw6 (also filed as iscgem610790917). Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 11:23 AM UTC.