Strong mag. 6.2 Earthquake - Tonga Islands on Saturday, Nov 7, 2020, at 10:27 pm (GMT +13)
A very strong magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred in the South Pacific Ocean 196 km (122 mi) from Tonga late in the evening of Saturday, Nov 7, 2020 at 10.27 pm local time (GMT +13). The quake had a shallow depth of 64 km (40 mi) and was reported felt by some people near the epicenter.
7 Nov 09:36 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 9 minutes. 7 Nov 09:39: Epicenter location corrected by 11 km (7 mi) towards WNW. 7 Nov 10:00: Magnitude recalculated from 6.1 to 6.2. 7 Nov 10:00: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 10.0 to 64.0 km (from 6.2 to 40 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 24 km (15 mi) towards WNW.
Update Sat, 7 Nov 2020, 09:39
Significant 6.1 quake hits near Hihifo, Samoa
6.1 quake 75 km NNE of Hihifo, Tonga, Samoa, 7 Nov 10.27 pm (GMT +13)
The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) reported a magnitude 6.1 quake in Samoa near the village of Hihifo only 12 minutes ago. The earthquake hit late at night on Saturday 7 November 2020 at 10.27 pm local time at a shallow depth of 10 km. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report. A second report was later issued by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which listed it as a magnitude 6.4 earthquake. A third agency, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), reported the same quake at magnitude 6.2. Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should have been widely felt by almost everyone in the area of the epicenter. It might have caused light to moderate damage. Moderate shaking probably occurred in Hihifo (pop. 800) located 75 km from the epicenter. This story will be updated soon by VolcanoDiscovery. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.
Download the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app and get one of the fastest seismic alerts online: Android | iOS
The closest larger town where the quake might have been felt is Hihifo, a town with 815 inhabitants in Tonga, in 84 km (52 mi) distance south of the epicenter. People likely experienced moderate shaking there. In the capital of American Samoa, Pago Pago, 351 km (218 mi) away from the epicenter, the earthquake was probably felt as weak shaking. The following table shows some of the places that might have been affected (or not) by the shaking.
Contribute: Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it. Flag as inappropriate. Mark as helpful or interesting. Send your own user report!
Translate
Tafuna American Samoa / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex rolling (tilting in multiple directions) / 5-10 s : One moderate jolt to start then a soft slow rolling motion for about 10 seconds | 3 users found this interesting.
Alele (Wallis and Futuna, 363 km NW of epicenter): Petite secousse (reported through EMSC)
What is Intensity and the Mercalli Intensity Scale?
The amount of shaking that occurs on the surface due to an earthquake is called the intensity. It is commonly measured on the so-called Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) ranging from 1 (not felt) to 10 (extreme shaking), and given in Roman numerals as I,II,...IX, X, and often displayed with color codes ranging from light blue to dark red. Earthquake intensity depends mainly on the magnitude and depth of the quake as well as the distance from the epicenter: The further away, the less shaking intensity occurs. Read more about the MMI scale!
Compare Quake Data
Data for the same earthquake as reported by different agencies
The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia)
5.9
10 km
6.2 mi
(*)
09:27:02
Tonga Islands, Samoa
34 km (21 mi) epicenter difference with GFZ
BMKG (Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia)
Notes: (*) A depth given as 10 km often means that the the depth of the quake could not determined with sufficient accuracy.
Seismograms
Seismic station: Afiamalu, Samoa (AFI/IU network) | Distance from quake: 262 km / 163 mi | Show on map | Station Info
Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.1-10.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool
Seismic station: Monasavu, Fiji (MSVF/II network) | Distance from quake: 911 km / 566 mi | Show on map | Station Info
Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.02-5.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool
Seismic station: Raoul, Kermadec Islands (RAO/IU network) | Distance from quake: 1618 km / 1005 mi | Show on map | Station Info
Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.02-2.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool
Seismic station: Tarawa Island, Republic of Kiribati (TARA/IU network) | Distance from quake: 2348 km / 1459 mi | Show on map | Station Info
Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.02-2.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool
Seismic station: Honiara, Solomon Islands (HNR/IU network) | Distance from quake: 2918 km / 1813 mi | Show on map | Station Info
Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.02-2.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool
So far, only one aftershock has been recorded. It hit 13 days after the mainshock in 26 km (16 mi) distance. When more aftershocks are detected, we will update this section.
What are aftershocks?
Larger earthquakes (above magnitude 5 or so) such as this one are usually followed by smaller ones known as aftershocks that occur in the same area during the days, weeks, months or even years after the main shock.
[More info]
Aftershocks are typically at least one order of magnitude smaller than the main shock. Their size and frequency decreases with time.
What about this quake?
Based on its magnitude, the fault that was active during the quake likely ruptured beneath a surface of approx. 158 km2 (=61 sqare miles) as a first-order estimate. The length of the rupture zone thus was probably around 22 km (14 mi).
[More info]
Aftershocks for this quake can be expected to occur during the weeks and months following the quake at or near the same fault, at distances of up to approx. two times the length of the rupture zone, or in this case 44 km (27 mi). The often broadly linear arrangement of aftershock epicenters encompasses the rupture zone of the main shock (see map below).
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (1 quake)
Date and Time GMT
Mag Depth
Distance
Region
Details
Nov 20, 2020 09:38 am (GMT +12) 3 years ago 13 days after main shock
We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world. Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources.
We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please make a donation (PayPal or Online credit card payment).
Planned features:
Improved multilanguage support
Tsunami alerts
Faster responsiveness
Thanks to your past donations, these features have been added recently:
Design upgrade
Detailed quake stats
Additional seismic data sources
Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online: Android | IOS