Reviewed by USGSTonga29y ago
M4.2 earthquake 154 km WSW of Haveluloto, Tonga
Sunday, November 2, 1997, 17:26:41 UTC · 21.570°S, 176.633°W
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 154 km WSW of Haveluloto, Tonga on Sunday, November 2, 1997, 17:26:41 UTC, at a depth of 150.0 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 150 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: 50 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
30 tons of TNT
That is about 1/500 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 16 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
19 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Tonga and Australian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: intermediate
150 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 50 km
USGS lists 4 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.9 on November 7, 1997. 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 1,369 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.0TongaJanuary 4, 1903 · 244 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.8159 km W of Pangai, TongaDecember 14, 1950 · 222 km N of this epicenter
- 7.8Fiji regionJanuary 1, 1919 · 292 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.8192 km WSW of Haveluloto, TongaOctober 14, 1997 · 61 km S of this epicenter
- 7.5110 km E of ‘Ohonua, TongaSeptember 8, 1948 · 287 km E of this epicenter
- 7.5262 km WNW of Haveluloto, TongaMay 21, 1962 · 186 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.4Fiji regionSeptember 28, 1957 · 212 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.4Fiji regionAugust 5, 1996 · 200 km NW of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 11 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 · 164 km away · intensity IV
1 death$1 million damagetsunami
- 1937M8.1
Fiji Islands
16 Apr 1937 · 39 km away
- 1903M8.0
Tonga Islands
4 Jan 1903 · 244 km away
- 1948M7.9
Tonga Islands
8 Sep 1948 · 280 km away
tsunami
- 1919M7.8
Fiji Islands
1 Jan 1919 · 292 km away
tsunami
- 1950M7.7
Tonga Islands
14 Dec 1950 · 239 km away · intensity VI
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.