M7.2 earthquake south of the Fiji Islands

Tuesday, April 16, 1996, 00:30:54 UTC · 24.061°S, 177.036°W

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck south of the Fiji Islands on Tuesday, April 16, 1996, 00:30:54 UTC, at a depth of 110.9 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.2 on July 11, 1992.

Magnitude: 7.2; Major · mwb
Depth: 111 km; Intermediate
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: 200 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

951 kilotons of TNT

That is about 63 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1,995 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

1 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Kermadec and Tonga plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: intermediate

111 km

Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.

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 lists 6 M2.5+ earthquakes within 200 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.4 on May 14, 1996. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 799 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 7 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 1 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1977M7.2
Tonga Trench
22 Jun 1977 · 175 km away · intensity IV
1 death$1 million damagetsunami
1937M8.1
Fiji Islands
16 Apr 1937 · 285 km away
1975M7.8
S Of Tonga
11 Oct 1975 · 215 km away
1982M7.7
Tonga Trench
19 Dec 1982 · 119 km away
tsunami
1963M7.5
Tonga Trench
18 Dec 1963 · 93 km away
tsunami
1977M7.2
Tonga Trench
10 Oct 1977 · 259 km away
tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers