Moderate earthquake hits off Tonga

An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.8 struck near the Pacific island of Tonga on Monday, the US Geological Survey said.

By Space Daily Editorial Team · Editorial process

Published July 23, 2006 · Updated March 13, 2026

An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.8 struck near the Pacific island of Tonga on Monday, the US Geological Survey said.

The USGS reported the moderate quake as striking at 8:50 am local time (2050 GMT on Sunday) about 520 kilometers (323 miles) northwest of the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa.

Its depth was 588 kilometers beneath the surface.

The 5.8 reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale, now used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released.

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