Tonga earthquakes

M5.1 earthquake 144 km S of Hihifo, Tonga

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck 144 km S of Hihifo, Tonga on Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 5:11 AM GMT-12 (17:11 UTC), 10 km (6 mi) below the surface.

A larger quake followed: M5.2 148 km N of Neiafu, Tonga. This one was a foreshock.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 5.1 (mb, body-wave), moderate
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 5:11 AM GMT-12
UTC: 2020-07-10 17:11:46 UTC
Depth: 10.0 km (6.2 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 17.250° S, 173.959° 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
5.1	mb, body-wave	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed · ±0.03 · 380 stations
5.11	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 10.0 km horizontally, 1.8 km in depth
Magnitude uncertainty: ±0.03
Depth from: Operator assigned
Station coverage gap: 33°
Stations used: 108

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 2.1 and up: 7 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.

After

Before

Earthquakes today Tonga earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us7000alja (also filed as iscgem618678613). Read Thu, Oct 1, 2026, 4:13 AM UTC.