Reviewed by USGS64y ago
M6.8 earthquake south of the Fiji Islands
Thursday, July 4, 1963, 10:58:16 UTC · 26.465°S, 177.868°W
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck south of the Fiji Islands on Thursday, July 4, 1963, 10:58:16 UTC, at a depth of 181.3 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.2 on November 24, 1960.
- Magnitude
- 6.8
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 181 km
- Intermediate
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
239 kilotons of TNT
That is about 16 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 501 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
6 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Kermadec and Australian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: intermediate
181 km
Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 100 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 68 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.3Kermadec Islands regionSeptember 14, 1959 · 272 km S of this epicenter
- 7.2south of the Fiji IslandsNovember 24, 1960 · 257 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.1Kermadec Islands, New ZealandSeptember 16, 1941 · 295 km S of this epicenter
- 7.0south of TongaJanuary 10, 1956 · 262 km E of this epicenter
- 6.8Kermadec Islands regionSeptember 15, 1959 · 258 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.7south of the Fiji IslandsSeptember 8, 1920 · 274 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.7Kermadec Islands regionNovember 24, 1941 · 211 km S of this epicenter
- 6.7Kermadec Islands regionDecember 12, 1928 · 248 km SE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 6 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1955M7.8
Kermadec Islands
27 Feb 1955 · 290 km away
- 1959M7.7
Kermadec Islands
14 Sep 1959 · 242 km away
- 1917M7.5
S Of
16 Nov 1917 · 284 km away
tsunami
- 1961M7.5
Kermadec Islands
7 Mar 1961 · 296 km away
- 1963M7.5
Tonga Trench
18 Dec 1963 · 225 km away
tsunami
- 1956M7.0
Tonga Islands
10 Jan 1956 · 267 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.