QuakeScout
Magnitude4.7

Reviewed by USGSTonga17y ago

M4.7 earthquake 149 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga

Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 18:27:08 UTC · 22.673°S, 174.808°W

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck 149 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 18:27:08 UTC, at a depth of 15.2 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.7 on April 19, 2009.

Magnitude
4.7
Light · mb
Depth
15 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

169 tons of TNT

That is about 1/89 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 3 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

41 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Tonga and Pacific plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

15 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 M4.8 on April 28, 2009. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

M3M4M51h6h1d3d7d14d30dMainshock M4.7
Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.
  1. 4.8146 km S of ‘Ohonua, Tonga17y ago · 16 km W of this epicenter

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 1,275 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 8.0TongaJanuary 4, 1903 · 298 km N of this epicenter
  2. 8.02006 Tonga EarthquakeMay 3, 2006 · 285 km N of this epicenter
  3. 7.8south of TongaOctober 11, 1975 · 249 km S of this epicenter
  4. 7.8192 km WSW of Haveluloto, TongaOctober 14, 1997 · 212 km W of this epicenter
  5. 7.8111 km SSE of Pangai, TongaJune 26, 1913 · 245 km NE of this epicenter
  6. 7.6191 km S of ‘Ohonua, TongaMarch 19, 2009 · 44 km S of this epicenter
  7. 7.5110 km E of ‘Ohonua, TongaSeptember 8, 1948 · 187 km NE of this epicenter
  8. 7.4south of TongaMarch 18, 1905 · 237 km SE of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 12 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 1 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1977M7.2

    Tonga Trench

    22 Jun 1977 · 114 km away · intensity IV

    1 death$1 million damagetsunami

  2. 2006M7.9

    Tonga Islands

    3 May 2006 · 285 km away · intensity VII

    Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

  3. 1937M8.1

    Fiji Islands

    16 Apr 1937 · 261 km away

  4. 1903M8.0

    Tonga Islands

    4 Jan 1903 · 298 km away

  5. 1948M7.9

    Tonga Islands

    8 Sep 1948 · 204 km away

    tsunami

  6. 1975M7.8

    S Of Tonga

    11 Oct 1975 · 249 km away

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

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