March 12, 1993 Earthquake: Futuna Island, Wallis and Futuna
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Futuna Island, Wallis and Futuna on March 12, 1993 at 14:01:35 UTC, 10 km below the surface. It killed 5 people, counting the tsunami it caused.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- March 12, 1993
- Time
- 14:01:35 UTC
- Place
- Futuna Island, Wallis and Futuna
- Magnitude
- 6.4 (Mw)
- Magnitude scales
- Mw 6.4 · Ms 6.4 · mb 6
- Focal depth
- 10 km (6 mi)
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 14.385° S, 178.252° W
- Country
- Wallis and Futuna
- Region
- Central and South Pacific
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
Mw: moment magnitude, based on the slip on the fault and the area that slipped. Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.
The toll
- Deaths
- 5
- Injuries
- 201; 20 with its tsunami and other effects
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Some (about 51 to 100) with its tsunami and other effects
- Houses damaged
- Some (about 51 to 100) with its tsunami and other effects
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Five people killed, more than 20 seriously injured and damage on Futuna Island. Depth from broadband displacement seismograms. RADIATED ENERGY No. of sta: 25 Focal mech. M Energy 1.0+0.2*10**14 Nm MOMENT TENSOR SOLUTION Dep 5 No. of sta: 27 Moment Tensor; Scale 10**18 Nm Mrr=3.48 Mtt=-1.47 Mff=-2.00 Mrt=-2.09 Mrf=-0.23 Mtf=2.73 Principal axes: (T) Val=4.48 Plg=63 Azm=154 (N) Val=0.20 Plg=25 Azm=311 (P) Val=-4.68 Plg=9 Azm=45 Best Double Couple:Mo=4.6*10**18 NP1:Strike=162 Dip=42 Slip=129 NP2:Strike=294 Dip=59 Slip=60 CENTROID, MOMENT TENSOR (HRV) Data Used: GDSN L.P.B.: 42S, **C M.W.: 26S, 49C Centroid Location: Origin Time 14:01:42.2 0.1 Lat 14.30S 0.01 Lon 178.09W 0.01 Dep 15.0 BDY Half-duration 3.4 Moment Tensor; Scale 10**18 Nm Mrr=3.24 0.02 Mtt=-2.08 0.03 Mff=-1.16 0.03 Mrt=-1.62 0.10 Mrf=0.28 0.09 Mtf=2.35 0.02 Principal Axes: (T) Val=3.73 Plg=72 Azm=163 (N) Val=0.56 Plg=15 Azm=305 (P) Val=-4.29 Plg=11 Azm=38 Best Double Couple:Mo=4.0*10**18 NP1:Strike=145 Dip=36 Slip=115 NP2:Strike=295 Dip=57 Slip=73
From the USGS event page for usp0005pd4. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Magnitude estimates
The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.4 | Mwb, body-wave moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 6.34 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 6.3 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
| 6.4 | Me, energy | Choy, USGS energy magnitude | Reviewed |
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
1993 March 12, 14:01:35.4 UTC. 14.385 S, 178.252 W, depth 10 km, magnitude 6.0 mb, 6.4 Ms, 6.4 Mw. Five people killed, more than 20 seriously injured and damage on Futuna Island. (reference #1053)
The island of Alofi, empty of men, experienced coral landslides. Quite different is the situation of Futuna, hard AFFECTED. First, all old buildings built in stone partially collapsed or completely, especially religious buildings, which deeply mark a particularly religious population. Then, the houses built in concrete on piles, were sheared, with irreparable damage at their collapse. (reference #11519)
History showed once again that the island of Wallis was spared. (reference #11519)
March 12, 1993 earthquake Futuna (14,248 2 S 178 298 2 W,Mb = 5.9, Ms = 6.5 PDE) killed three people. Caused damage to structures all over the island. It produced numerous landslides onshore all around the island, offshore and triggered a small tsunami. It likely caused uplift on the island by at least 50 cm as shown by the newly uplifted coral reefs along the southern coast. (reference #11520)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.
- #11519 Capecchi, B. (1995). Les Conséquences de l'instabilité tectonique à Wallis et Futuna [Consequences of tectonic instability in Wallis and Futuna]. Les cahiers d'outre-mer, Nouméa 48 (191), p. 381-400.
- #11520 Regnier, M. (1994). Sismotectonique de la ride de Horn (iles de Futuna et Alofi), un segment en compression dans la zone de fracture Nord-Fidjienne [Seismotectonics of the Horn ridge (Futuna and Alofi islands), a segment uplifted by compression in the Fiji fracture zone). Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences. Earth & planetary sciences. Série II, Sciences de la terre et des planètes, vol. 318, p. 1219-124.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
More
Significant earthquakes of 1993The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1993Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 5349. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp0005pd4, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.