Reviewed by USGS93y ago
M6.4 earthquake southeast of the Loyalty Islands
Friday, April 27, 1934, 20:47:03 UTC · 23.051°S, 171.627°E
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck southeast of the Loyalty Islands on Friday, April 27, 1934, 20:47:03 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.7 on March 2, 1931.
- Magnitude
- 6.4
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 35 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 earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
54 kilotons of TNT
That is about 4 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 114 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
9 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the New Hebrides and Australian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
35 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 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 39 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.6274 km ESE of Tadine, New CaledoniaMarch 16, 1928 · 148 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.2southeast of the Loyalty IslandsNovember 14, 1906 · 57 km N of this epicenter
- 7.1southeast of the Loyalty IslandsApril 14, 1906 · 90 km N of this epicenter
- 7.1175 km SE of Isangel, VanuatuMarch 30, 1910 · 287 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.0southeast of the Loyalty IslandsAugust 25, 1926 · 61 km E of this epicenter
- 7.0204 km E of Tadine, New CaledoniaFebruary 1, 1923 · 240 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.8southeast of the Loyalty IslandsFebruary 9, 1925 · 103 km NW of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 2 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1901M7.9
Loyalty Islands
9 Aug 1901 · 204 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1928M7.5
Loyalty Islands
16 Mar 1928 · 164 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.