Reviewed by USGS37y ago
M4.3 earthquake south of the Fiji Islands
Thursday, March 15, 1990, 12:33:56 UTC · 21.056°S, 175.790°E
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck south of the Fiji Islands on Thursday, March 15, 1990, 12:33:56 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.3
- 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 earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
43 tons of TNT
That is about 1/354 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 11 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
25 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 has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 95 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.6south of the Fiji IslandsMarch 3, 1990 · 135 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.8south of the Fiji IslandsNovember 7, 1988 · 154 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.6southeast of the Loyalty IslandsMarch 3, 1990 · 225 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.6southeast of the Loyalty IslandsJuly 23, 1988 · 150 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.6Vanuatu regionNovember 4, 1934 · 156 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.5266 km S of Nadi, FijiMarch 15, 1920 · 168 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.5southeast of the Loyalty IslandsNovember 4, 1934 · 178 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionMarch 10, 1948 · 223 km W 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:
- 1990M7.6
Fiji Islands
3 Mar 1990 · 135 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.