Earthquake details

Tuesday, January 2, 1979 Earthquake

The earthquake hit New Zealand on Tuesday, January 2, 1979 at 13:44 UTC with a magnitude of 5.1. The closest known location in the current dataset is Whangarei (New Zealand - NE), about 1022.2 km away. The epicenter is located at longitude -178.248 and latitude -29.017.

Magnitude 5.1
Alert Strong
Depth 136.0 km
Coordinates -29.017, -178.248
UTC time 1979-01-02 13:44:44.000
Location Kermadec Islands
Country New Zealand (NE)
Severity Strong

Earthquake map 1979-01-02

Nearby earthquakes

The latest 8 earthquakes within 100 km of this epicenter.
M 4.9
Kermadec Islands
New Zealand · 2026-07-25 21:39 UTC
84.7 km
M 5.0
Kermadec Islands
New Zealand · 2026-07-22 21:03 UTC
73.8 km
M 4.2
Kermadec Islands
New Zealand · 2026-07-10 07:36 UTC
42.5 km
M 4.3
Kermadec Islands
New Zealand · 2026-06-27 08:55 UTC
63.9 km
M 4.2
Kermadec Islands
New Zealand · 2026-06-19 23:30 UTC
93.6 km
M 4.1
Kermadec Islands region
Unknown · 2026-06-01 09:04 UTC
86.2 km
M 4.9
Kermadec Islands
New Zealand · 2026-04-10 08:17 UTC
84.7 km
M 4.8
Kermadec Islands
New Zealand · 2026-03-30 15:22 UTC
75.5 km

Stay informed

Earthquake alerts

Create targeted notifications for important seismic activity near the places you follow.

Choose the places you want to monitor.
Set a minimum magnitude for notifications.