Reviewed by USGS26y ago
M7.1 earthquake in Vanuatu region
Friday, February 25, 2000, 01:43:58 UTC · 19.528°S, 173.818°E
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck in Vanuatu region on Friday, February 25, 2000, 01:43:58 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 7.1
- Major · mwc
- 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 200 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
674 kilotons of TNT
That is about 45 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1,413 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
42 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Conway Reef and New Hebrides 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 200 km
USGS lists 5 M2.5+ earthquakes within 200 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.6 on February 25, 2000. 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 98 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 6.7Vanuatu regionJune 30, 1993 · 171 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.6Vanuatu regionNovember 4, 1934 · 278 km S of this epicenter
- 6.5southeast of the Loyalty IslandsNovember 4, 1934 · 299 km S of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionMarch 10, 1948 · 189 km S of this epicenter
- 6.5Fiji regionJanuary 9, 2000 · 98 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionJune 24, 1987 · 185 km S of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionJanuary 10, 1948 · 73 km S of this epicenter
- 6.4Vanuatu regionAugust 31, 1984 · 248 km NW of this epicenter