Categorized | Earthquake, News

6.3M quake near Fiji Islands, no tsunami threat to Hawaii

Magnitude
6.3
Date-Time
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 00:52:06 UTC
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 12:52:06 PM at epicenter
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 02:52:06 HST
Location
24.959°S, 178.611°E
Depth
582.8 km (362.2 miles)
Region
SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS

For more information about this and other recent quakes visit the USGS website

USGS: How large does an earthquake have to be to cause a tsunami?

Magnitudes below 6.5
Earthquakes of this magnitude are very unlikely to trigger a tsunami.

Magnitudes between 6.5 and 7.5
Earthquakes of this size do not usually produce destructive tsunamis. However, small sea level changes may be observed in the vicinity of the epicenter. Tsunamis capable of producing damage or casualties are rare in this magnitude range but have occurred due to secondary effects such as landslides or submarine slumps.

Magnitudes between 7.6 and 7.8
Earthquakes of this size may produce destructive tsunamis especially near the epicenter; at greater distances small sea level changes may be observed. Tsunamis capable of producing damage at great distances are rare in the magnitude range.

Magnitude 7.9 and greater
Destructive local tsunamis are possible near the epicenter, and significant sea level changes and damage may occur in a broader region.

Note that with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the probability of an aftershock with a magnitude exceeding 7.5 is not negligible. To date, the largest aftershock recorded has been magnitude 7.1 that did not produce a damaging tsunami.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

 

Quantcast