M5.4 earthquake 116 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 116 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga on Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 12:23 PM GMT+13 (23:23 UTC), 14 km (9 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.6 141 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.4 (Mww, W-phase moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2018-06-20 23:23:26 UTC
- Depth
- 14.0 km (8.7 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 22.378° S, 175.077° 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.4 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed · ±0.083 · 14 stations |
| 5.49 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.5 | Mwb, body-wave moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Reviewed |
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
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
- 5.4 Mww
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 226°, dip 41°, rake 115°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 14°, dip 53°, rake 70°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 8.8 km horizontally, 1.7 km in depth
- Magnitude uncertainty
- ±0.08
- Depth from
- From modeling of broad-band P waveforms
- Station coverage gap
- 89°
- Stations used
- 210
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.4 and up: 2 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.6141 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 3024 days ago · 10 km deep · 31 km away
- 4.4140 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga · 3022 days ago · 10 km deep · 26 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us1000ewy4 (also filed as iscgem618200856). Read Thu, Oct 1, 2026, 2:54 PM UTC.