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Earthquake Hazards Program

Magnitude 5.0 VANUATU

Friday, March 20, 2009 at 14:21:50 UTC

Preliminary Earthquake Report

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Magnitude 5.0
Date-Time
  • Friday, March 20, 2009 at 14:21:50 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time
  • Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 01:21:50 AM local time at epicenter

  • Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
    Location 18.10S 167.36E
    Depth 48 kilometers
    Region VANUATU
    Distances 105 km (65 miles) WSW of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu
    255 km (160 miles) NW of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu
    285 km (180 miles) S of Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
    1800 km (1120 miles) ENE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
    Location Uncertainty Error estimate: horizontal +/- 10.6 km; depth +/- 18.1 km
    Parameters Nst=28, Nph=28, Dmin=1131.2 km, Rmss=1.07 sec, Erho=10.6 km, Erzz=18.1 km, Gp=69.4 degrees
    Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Event ID useka3

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    NB: The official magnitude for this earthquake is indicated at the top of this page. This was the best available estimate of the earthquake's size, at the time that this page was created. Other magnitudes associated with web pages linked from here are those determined at various times following the earthquake with different types of seismic data. Although, given the data used, they are legitimate estimates of magnitude they are not considered the official magnitude.

    The region name is an automatically generated name from the Flinn-Engdahl (F-E) seismic and geographical regionalization scheme. The boundaries of these regions are defined at one-degree intervals and therefore differ from irregular political boundaries. More->

    Preliminary Earthquake Report
    U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
    World Data Center for Seismology, Denver


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