Reviewed by USGS18y ago
M4.6 earthquake south of the Fiji Islands
Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 12:45:22 UTC · 26.653°S, 176.004°W
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck south of the Fiji Islands on Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 12:45:22 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.6 on December 28, 2007.
- Magnitude
- 4.6
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 35 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
120 tons of TNT
That is about 1/126 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 4 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
59 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Kermadec and Pacific plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
35 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 890 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.01976 Kermadec Islands, New Zealand EarthquakeJanuary 14, 1976 · 256 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.8south of TongaOctober 11, 1975 · 215 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.8south of the Fiji IslandsDecember 9, 2007 · 167 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.7Kermadec Islands regionOctober 20, 1986 · 167 km S of this epicenter
- 7.6south of the Fiji IslandsDecember 18, 1963 · 228 km N of this epicenter
- 7.5Kermadec Islands regionFebruary 27, 1955 · 191 km S of this epicenter
- 7.3Kermadec Islands regionSeptember 14, 1959 · 271 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.3south of the Fiji IslandsJanuary 20, 1970 · 147 km NW of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 13 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1986M8.1
Raoul
20 Oct 1986 · 167 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1917M8.0
Kermadec Islands
1 May 1917 · 300 km away
tsunami
- 1955M7.8
Kermadec Islands
27 Feb 1955 · 158 km away
- 1975M7.8
S Of Tonga
11 Oct 1975 · 215 km away
- 2007M7.8
Kermadec Islands
9 Dec 2007 · 167 km away
tsunami
- 1959M7.7
Kermadec Islands
14 Sep 1959 · 228 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.