Reviewed by USGS101y ago
M6.1 earthquake south of the Fiji Islands
Sunday, June 27, 1926, 18:01:42 UTC · 26.771°S, 177.396°W
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck south of the Fiji Islands on Sunday, June 27, 1926, 18:01:42 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.6 on February 13, 1925.
- Magnitude
- 6.1
- 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
19 kilotons of TNT
That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 39 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
60 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: 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 12 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.0Kermadec Islands, New ZealandJune 13, 1917 · 280 km S of this epicenter
- 6.7south of the Fiji IslandsSeptember 8, 1920 · 281 km N of this epicenter
- 6.7Kermadec Islands regionMay 4, 1917 · 129 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.6Kermadec Islands regionFebruary 13, 1925 · 261 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.5Kermadec Islands regionMay 15, 1912 · 287 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.3Kermadec Islands regionMay 2, 1917 · 219 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.3Kermadec Islands regionMay 2, 1917 · 168 km S of this epicenter
- 6.2Kermadec Islands regionMay 9, 1917 · 251 km SE 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:
- 1917M8.0
Kermadec Islands
1 May 1917 · 273 km away
tsunami
- 1917M7.5
S Of
16 Nov 1917 · 248 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.