Reviewed by USGS26y ago
M4.8 earthquake in Vanuatu region
Friday, February 25, 2000, 05:08:15 UTC · 19.376°S, 173.678°E
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck in Vanuatu region on Friday, February 25, 2000, 05:08:15 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.1 on February 25, 2000.
- Magnitude
- 4.8
- 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
239 tons of TNT
That is about 1/63 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 2 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
26 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 50 km
USGS lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.2 on February 26, 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 91 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.1Vanuatu regionFebruary 25, 2000 · 22 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.8281 km WNW of Lautoka, FijiJanuary 1, 1972 · 299 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.7Vanuatu regionJune 30, 1993 · 179 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.6Vanuatu regionNovember 4, 1934 · 299 km S of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionMarch 10, 1948 · 205 km S of this epicenter
- 6.5Fiji regionJanuary 9, 2000 · 95 km NE of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionJune 24, 1987 · 201 km S of this epicenter
- 6.5Vanuatu regionJanuary 10, 1948 · 89 km S of this epicenter