M4.2 earthquake Tonga region
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck in the Tonga region on Wed, Mar 15, 2017, 4:19 AM GMT+13 (15:19 UTC), 20 km (13 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.1 south of Tonga. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 4.2 (mb, body-wave), light
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2017-03-14 15:19:06 UTC
- Depth
- 20.1 km (12.5 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 23.972° S, 175.598° W
- Region
- Tonga
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
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 16.3 km horizontally, 5.0 km in depth
- Magnitude uncertainty
- ±0.20
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 200°, poorly surrounded by stations
- Stations used
- 11
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.5 and up: 4 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.1south of Tonga · 3490 days ago · 10 km deep · 47 km away
- 5.0south of Tonga · 3467 days ago · 33 km deep · 99 km away
- 5.1south of Tonga · 3441 days ago · 10 km deep · 36 km away
- 4.9293 km SSW of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 3439 days ago · 10 km deep · 23 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us20008trb. Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 10:56 PM UTC.