Reviewed by USGS38y ago
M4.8 earthquake southeast of the Loyalty Islands
Sunday, July 24, 1988, 00:05:34 UTC · 22.262°S, 174.882°E
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck southeast of the Loyalty Islands on Sunday, July 24, 1988, 00:05:34 UTC, at a depth of 32.8 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.4 on July 23, 1988.
- Magnitude
- 4.8
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 33 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: 50 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
239 tons of TNT
That is about 1/63 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 2 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
26 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Australian and Conway Reef plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
33 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 50 km
USGS lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.4 on July 24, 1988. 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 65 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.0southeast of the Loyalty IslandsAugust 25, 1926 · 289 km W of this epicenter
- 6.7southeast of the Loyalty IslandsJune 14, 1905 · 250 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.6southeast of the Loyalty IslandsJuly 23, 1988 · 15 km N of this epicenter
- 6.6Vanuatu regionNovember 4, 1934 · 48 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.5southeast of the Loyalty IslandsNovember 4, 1934 · 40 km W of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionMarch 10, 1948 · 172 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.5south of the Fiji IslandsApril 20, 1938 · 23 km E of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionJune 24, 1987 · 180 km NW 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:
- 1944M7.5
Loyalty Islands
5 Oct 1944 · 297 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.