M5.3 Earthquake Near 26 km NW of Neiafu, Tonga Draws 2 Felt Reports
Updated: USGS Week upgraded this solution from M5.2 to M5.3. USGS Week reports M5.3 near 26 km NW of Neiafu, Tonga, with a 10.0 km catalog depth and 2 felt reports.
Update: the reporting agency changed this event's magnitude from M5.2 to M5.3. The current value is shown throughout this brief; the earlier value is retained here as revision history.
The event began at Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:51:09 GMT. USGS Week reports magnitude 5.3, 10.0 km catalog depth, and coordinates -18.474, -174.155.
The catalog location label is 26 km NW of Neiafu, Tonga; no separate nearest-city field was supplied with this solution. By catalog depth, this is a shallow event. The magnitude-derived energy estimate is 5.62e+12 joules, or about 1,344 tons of TNT equivalent; that calculation describes source energy, not local damage.
2 public felt reports are attached to the current catalog entry. Other attached observation fields include catalog significance score 433. No official casualty or damage statement is attached to the normalized event evidence.
The USGS Week catalog currently marks the solution as reviewed. No station-count, phase-count, residual, gap, or uncertainty fields were supplied in the normalized record. 1 alternate network solution is retained for comparison.
The provider record does not carry a tsunami flag at publication time. Magnitude, depth, and location can change as monitoring networks add observations and review the solution.
At a glance
- Magnitude revised: M5.2 to M5.3
- Magnitude 5.3
- 10.0 km catalog depth
- 5.62e+12 J magnitude-derived energy estimate
- Origin: Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:51:09 GMT
- 2 attached felt reports
- USGS Week monitoring record