Reviewed by USGS68y ago
M6.5 earthquake in Vanuatu region
Friday, July 3, 1959, 17:55:13 UTC · 16.197°S, 172.946°E
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck in Vanuatu region on Friday, July 3, 1959, 17:55:13 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.5 on July 20, 1950.
- Magnitude
- 6.5
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 15 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
71 kilotons of TNT
That is about 5 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 150 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
55 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Balmoral Reef and New Hebrides plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
15 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
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 lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M6.6 on July 3, 1959. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 12 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.1Vanuatu regionJune 29, 1928 · 222 km W of this epicenter
- 6.5286 km E of Port-Vila, VanuatuNovember 3, 1907 · 253 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.5Fiji regionSeptember 9, 1920 · 143 km N of this epicenter
- 6.5Fiji regionJuly 20, 1950 · 54 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.4Fiji regionJune 5, 1930 · 214 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.3243 km WNW of Lautoka, FijiMarch 20, 1943 · 262 km E of this epicenter
- 6.3Fiji regionSeptember 4, 1937 · 174 km SE of this epicenter
- 5.9Fiji regionSeptember 22, 1933 · 183 km E of this epicenter