Reviewed by USGS122y ago
M7.1 earthquake southeast of the Loyalty Islands
Saturday, April 14, 1906, 03:57:36 UTC · 22.291°S, 171.324°E
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck southeast of the Loyalty Islands on Saturday, April 14, 1906, 03:57:36 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 7.1
- Major · 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
722 kilotons of TNT
That is about 48 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1,514 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
83 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 200 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 200 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 6 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 6.8southeast of the Loyalty IslandsMarch 10, 1906 · 61 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.7southeast of the Loyalty IslandsJuly 17, 1905 · 100 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.7southeast of the Loyalty IslandsJune 14, 1905 · 294 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.6southeast of the Loyalty IslandsMarch 10, 1906 · 143 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.6southeast of the Loyalty IslandsMarch 28, 1906 · 273 km S of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 1 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1901M7.9
Loyalty Islands
9 Aug 1901 · 140 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.