M4.5 earthquake Tonga
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck in Tonga on Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:55 AM GMT-12 (15:55 UTC), 10 km (6 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M4.8 43 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
- 4.5 (mb), light
- Local time
- UTC
- 2021-05-31 15:55:57 UTC
- Depth
- 10.0 km (6.2 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 16.558° S, 174.315° 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 11.7 km horizontally, 2.0 km in depth
- Magnitude uncertainty
- ±0.24
- Depth from
- Operator assigned
- Station coverage gap
- 96°
- Stations used
- 9
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.5 and up: 8 in the 60 days after this one and 4 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.422 km NW of Hihifo, Tonga · 1943 days ago · 106 km deep · 89 km away
- 4.436 km SE of Hihifo, Tonga · 1942 days ago · 102 km deep · 87 km away
- 4.4114 km W of Hihifo, Tonga · 1930 days ago · 323 km deep · 79 km away
- 4.5138 km S of Hihifo, Tonga · 1918 days ago · 10 km deep · 99 km away
- 4.417 km NNW of Hihifo, Tonga · 1918 days ago · 35 km deep · 96 km away
- 4.357 km SE of Hihifo, Tonga · 1913 days ago · 10 km deep · 92 km away
- 4.843 km SSE of Hihifo, Tonga · 1895 days ago · 51 km deep · 71 km away
- 4.620 km WSW of Hihifo, Tonga · 1893 days ago · 113 km deep · 71 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us7000e9h3. Read Wed, Sep 30, 2026, 3:46 AM UTC.