Reviewed by USGSNew Caledonia29y ago
M4.0 earthquake 205 km ESE of Tadine, New Caledonia
Tuesday, January 20, 1998, 12:51:52 UTC · 22.090°S, 169.776°E
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck 205 km ESE of Tadine, New Caledonia on Tuesday, January 20, 1998, 12:51:52 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.0
- 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
15 tons of TNT
That is about 1/998 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 32 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
16 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the New Hebrides and Australian 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 717 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.11920 Vanuatu EarthquakeSeptember 20, 1920 · 270 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.828 km ESE of Isangel, VanuatuJune 16, 1910 · 278 km N of this epicenter
- 7.7249 km E of Vao, New CaledoniaMay 16, 1995 · 103 km S of this epicenter
- 7.6274 km ESE of Tadine, New CaledoniaMarch 16, 1928 · 70 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.5southeast of the Loyalty IslandsJanuary 4, 1998 · 119 km E of this epicenter
- 7.2southeast of the Loyalty IslandsNovember 14, 1906 · 196 km E of this epicenter
- 7.2207 km E of Tadine, New CaledoniaOctober 25, 1980 · 24 km N 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 26 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1875M8.1
Loyalty Islands: Lifou Island
28 Mar 1875 · 267 km away
26 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1901M7.9
Loyalty Islands
9 Aug 1901 · 25 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1920M8.1
Loyalty Islands
20 Sep 1920 · 270 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1913M8.1
Vanuatu Islands
14 Oct 1913 · 299 km away
- 1995M7.7
Noumea; Vanuatu: Port-Vila
16 May 1995 · 103 km away · intensity III
tsunami
- 1910M7.5
Vanuatu Islands
1 Jun 1910 · 246 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.