A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck 675 km down
It struck on 19 August 2002, south of the Fiji Islands. This is the depth of the source, not of the damage.
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Strong catalogue earthquakes can originate very far below the surface. High magnitude does not necessarily imply a shallow source.
Bars share one scale. The source values and their units are listed below.
- Hypocentre depth km
675.4 (2002-08-19T11:08:24.310Z)
- Event magnitude magnitude (mwc)
7.7 (2002-08-19T11:08:24.310Z)
USGS ComCat: published earthquake-type events, M≥7, from 1900-01-01 through 2026-10-01. Magnitude type, date, network and errors retained. Historical completeness varies; the catalogue does not measure damage or deaths. Select the three greatest reported depths among M≥7 events in 1970–2025. Depth is estimated; the topic uses selected records, not a random earthquake sample.
USGS ComCat earthquake-type events with published magnitude ≥7, 1900-01-01 ≤ date ≤ 2026-10-01. Preferred catalogue magnitude, with scale type retained. Hypocentre depth, not damage depth; reported errors are preserved. Historical completeness, accuracy and networks vary. The catalogue does not prove an increase in true event incidence or damage; counts refer to the stated filter. The logarithmic 10^(1.5ΔM) relation is an approximate educational energy ratio, not measured energy per event, local shaking or mortality.
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