Reviewed by USGS38y ago
M6.8 earthquake south of the Fiji Islands
Monday, November 7, 1988, 03:50:00 UTC · 22.239°S, 175.018°E
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck south of the Fiji Islands on Monday, November 7, 1988, 03:50:00 UTC, at a depth of 21.8 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 6.8
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 22 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
239 kilotons of TNT
That is about 16 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 501 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
32 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
22 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 M4.7 on November 8, 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 62 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 6.7southeast of the Loyalty IslandsJune 14, 1905 · 260 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.6southeast of the Loyalty IslandsJuly 23, 1988 · 17 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.6Vanuatu regionNovember 4, 1934 · 55 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.5southeast of the Loyalty IslandsNovember 4, 1934 · 52 km W of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionMarch 10, 1948 · 181 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.5south of the Fiji IslandsApril 20, 1938 · 9 km E of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionJune 24, 1987 · 190 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionJanuary 10, 1948 · 265 km NW of this epicenter