Very Strong earthquake (aftershock) at the Santa Cruz Islands

Last update: June 5, 2013 at 8:36 am by By Ashish Khanal

Update : The Focal Mechanism is Reverse Faulting = stress or accumulates pressure inside the plates. This is a subduction area were the Australian plate is subducting the Pacific plate at a speed of 10′s of mm/year. The hypocenter today (65 km depth) reflects that this is a subduction earthquake. The Santa Cruz Islands are however a complex faulting area with a lot of shallow transform faults criss-crossing the islands.

Update : People living in this area of the world are used (can someone be used of course ?) at very strong earthquakes. According to the USGS 8000 people will have felt a moderate MMI V shaking, noting special for the Santa Cruz Islands.

A late aftershock has reminded on the cruel earthquake and tsunami of last February 6 at the island of Nendo. Today’s earthquake was more to the south, but a link with the mainshock in February cannot be excluded.

89km (55mi) SSE of Lata, Solomon Islands
466km (290mi) NNW of Luganville, Vanuatu
725km (450mi) ESE of Honiara, Solomon Islands
734km (456mi) NNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
1057km (657mi) N of We, New Caledonia

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 6.1

Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-06-05 15:47:25

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-06-05 04:47:25

Depth (Hypocenter)  : 42 km

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2013/06/05/very-strong-earthquake-santa-cruz-islands-on-june-5-2013/