QuakeScout
Magnitude6.4

Reviewed by USGSSolomon Islands93y ago

M6.4 earthquake 36 km ESE of Lata, Solomon Islands

Friday, July 20, 1934, 18:48:48 UTC · 10.888°S, 166.084°E

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck 36 km ESE of Lata, Solomon Islands on Friday, July 20, 1934, 18:48:48 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.0 on July 19, 1934.

Magnitude
6.4
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

62 kilotons of TNT

That is about 4 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 130 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

79 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the African and South American 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 3 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M7.3 on July 21, 1934. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

M3M4M5M6M71h6h1d3d7d14d30dMainshock M6.4
Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.
  1. 6.249 km WSW of Lata, Solomon Islands93y ago · 80 km W of this epicenter
  2. 5.717 km SE of Lata, Solomon Islands93y ago · 22 km W of this epicenter
  3. 7.345 km SSE of Lata, Solomon Islands93y ago · 27 km SW of this epicenter

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 31 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 7.7138 km SSE of Lata, Solomon IslandsJuly 18, 1934 · 109 km S of this epicenter
  2. 7.0143 km NNW of Sola, VanuatuOctober 15, 1921 · 225 km SE of this epicenter
  3. 7.0165 km NW of Sola, VanuatuJuly 19, 1934 · 234 km S of this epicenter
  4. 7.045 km E of Lata, Solomon IslandsJune 20, 1914 · 20 km NE of this epicenter
  5. 6.9212 km S of Lata, Solomon IslandsSeptember 22, 1928 · 197 km S of this epicenter
  6. 6.896 km W of Lata, Solomon IslandsAugust 23, 1918 · 128 km W of this epicenter
  7. 6.8195 km NNW of Sola, VanuatuMay 20, 1920 · 173 km S of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 4 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:

  1. 1934M7.8

    Santa Cruz Islands

    18 Jul 1934 · 133 km away

    tsunami

  2. 1909M7.7

    Solomon Islands

    9 Dec 1909 · 154 km away

  3. 1900M7.6

    Santa Cruz Islands

    29 Jul 1900 · 154 km away

  4. 1934M7.1

    Solomon Islands; New Caledonia

    21 Jul 1934 · 69 km away

    tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

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