Earthquake details

Thursday, March 17, 1988 Earthquake

The earthquake hit Tonga on Thursday, March 17, 1988 at 15:36 UTC with a magnitude of 5.9. The closest known location in the current dataset is Apia (Tonga - TO), about 873.3 km away. The epicenter is located at longitude -173.884 and latitude -21.415.

Magnitude 5.9
Alert Strong
Depth 39.9 km
Coordinates -21.415, -173.884
UTC time 1988-03-17 15:36:23.860
Location 110 km E of ‘Ohonua
Country Tonga (TO)
Severity Strong

Earthquake map 1988-03-17

Nearby earthquakes

The latest 8 earthquakes within 100 km of this epicenter.
M 4.4
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Tonga · 2026-02-08 02:06 UTC
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M 4.3
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Tonga · 2026-02-06 04:16 UTC
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M 4.6
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Tonga · 2026-02-01 10:49 UTC
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M 5.8
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Tonga · 2026-01-31 20:59 UTC
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M 4.5
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Tonga · 2026-01-28 12:07 UTC
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M 4.9
93 km ENE of ‘Ohonua
Tonga · 2026-01-16 20:46 UTC
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M 4.3
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Tonga · 2025-11-10 18:22 UTC
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M 4.7
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Tonga · 2025-11-07 09:40 UTC
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