Moderate yet deep 5.3 quake hits near Hihifo, Niuas, Tonga

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake near Hihifo, Niuas, Tonga, was reported only 13 minutes ago by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), considered one of the key international agencies that monitor seismic activity worldwide. The earthquake occurred at an intermediate to considerable depth of 218.70 km beneath the epicenter in the afternoon on Thursday, July 10th, 2025, at 5:46 pm local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake which listed the quake at magnitude 5.3 as well. A third agency, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), reported the same quake at magnitude 5.2.
Towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Hihifo (pop. 820) located 75 km from the epicenter, and Vaipoa (pop. 170) 76 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you’re in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.


Earthquake data:
Date & time: Jul 10, 2025 05:46 pm (GMT +13) local time (10 Jul 2025 04:46 GMT)
Magnitude: 5.3
Depth: 218.70 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 15.63°S / 174.41°W (Tonga)
Primary data source: EMSC
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquake/news/275256/Moderate-yet-deep-53-quake-hits-near-Hihifo-Niuas-Tonga.html