Wild Land

A strong, undersea earthquake struck near Tonga this morning.

Sunday, 12th May 2013

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck 140 km north-west of Neiafu, Tonga at 8:47 this morning, New Zealand time. The U.S. Geological Survey reports the quake depth at 205 km.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre reported the quake as magnitude 6.5 at a depth of 215 km and advised that a destructive tsunami was not generated, based on the earthquake’s characteristics and historical tsunami data.

Geoscience Australia reported the event as magnitude 6.5 at a depth of 185 km. It estimated that the quake would have caused damage within 60 km of the epicentre and would have been felt up to 750 km away.

[Compiled from data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey and its contributing agencies, the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, and Geoscience Australia.]

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 12th, 2013 at 11:22 am and is filed under Earthquakes - Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.