Tonga earthquakes

M5.2 earthquake 166 km NE of Neiafu, Tonga

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck 166 km NE of Neiafu, Tonga on Wed, Jul 19, 2017, 5:11 AM GMT-12 (17:11 UTC), 5 km (3 mi) below the surface.

A larger quake followed: M5.4 156 km NE of Neiafu, Tonga. This one was a foreshock.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 5.2 (mb, body-wave), moderate
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Wed, Jul 19, 2017, 5:11 AM GMT-12
UTC: 2017-07-19 17:11:44 UTC
Depth: 5.4 km (3.4 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 17.569° S, 172.886° 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
5.2	mb, body-wave	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed · ±0.032 · 316 stations
5.2	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 11.6 km horizontally, 3.5 km in depth
Magnitude uncertainty: ±0.03
Depth from: From location
Station coverage gap: 76°
Stations used: 361

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 2.2 and up: 9 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.

After

Earthquakes today Tonga earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us20009y61 (also filed as iscgem611834379). Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 2:03 PM UTC.