USGS: M 7.1 Earthquake – 90 km SE of Pangai, Tonga
31 comments
·March 30, 2025umanwizard
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keizo
random, but my dad took the first pictures of a tonga eruption in 2009: https://volcano.si.edu/showreport.cfm?doi=10.5479/si.GVP.BGV...
r721
Here's a video of 2022 eruption: https://www.facebook.com/couriermail/videos/479475316908812/
kzrdude
Not too far away from that Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption in 2022
bradly
USGS Tsunami Report:
https://www.tsunami.gov/events/PHEB/2025/03/30/25089000/3/WE...
ZCZC
WEPA40 PHEB 301324
TSUPAC
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 3
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER HONOLULU HI
1322 UTC SUN MAR 30 2025
...PTWC FINAL TSUNAMI THREAT MESSAGE...
**** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE *****
THIS MESSAGE IS ISSUED FOR INFORMATION ONLY IN SUPPORT OF THE
UNESCO/IOC PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING AND MITIGATION SYSTEM AND IS
MEANT FOR NATIONAL AUTHORITIES IN EACH COUNTRY OF THAT SYSTEM.
NATIONAL AUTHORITIES WILL DETERMINE THE APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF
ALERT FOR EACH COUNTRY AND MAY ISSUE ADDITIONAL OR MORE REFINED
INFORMATION.
**** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE *****
THE TSUNAMI FORECAST IS UPDATED IN THIS MESSAGE.
PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
---------------------------------
* MAGNITUDE 7.1
* ORIGIN TIME 1219 UTC MAR 30 2025
* COORDINATES 20.6 SOUTH 173.4 WEST
* DEPTH 59 KM / 36 MILES
* LOCATION TONGA
EVALUATION
----------
* AN EARTHQUAKE WITH A PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE OF 7.1 OCCURRED IN
THE TONGA ISLANDS AT 1219 UTC ON SUNDAY MARCH 30 2025.
* BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA... THE TSUNAMI THREAT FROM THIS
EARTHQUAKE HAS NOW PASSED.
TSUNAMI THREAT FORECAST...UPDATED
---------------------------------
* THERE IS NO LONGER A TSUNAMI THREAT FROM THIS EARTHQUAKE.
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
-------------------
* REMAIN OBSERVANT AND EXERCISE NORMAL CAUTION NEAR THE SEA.
OTHERWISE... NO ACTION IS REQUIRED.
POTENTIAL IMPACTS
-----------------
* MINOR SEA LEVEL FLUCTUATIONS MAY OCCUR IN SOME COASTAL AREAS
NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS.null
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zzzeek
[flagged]
alephnerd
USAID has had a minimal presence in Myanmar for years - the junta kicked them and other NGOs out under the Biden administration [0] when the coup happened and the US sanctioned Myanmar [1].
Furthermore, whenever disasters happened in Myanmar, it would be neighboring states that did the bulk of aid work because logistics to Myanmar are tough even at the best of times.
Also, I agree with Hollerith - not everything is about the US and this thread has no relevance in a conversation about Tonga.
[0] - https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/13/myanmar-junta-blocks-lif...
[1] - https://www.courthousenews.com/biden-administration-kicks-up...
zzzeek
here's the NYT on this exact issue
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/world/asia/myanmar-earthq...
Trump’s U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Hobble Earthquake Response in Myanmar
While China, Russia and other nations have rushed emergency response teams to the devastated country, the U.S., once a leader in foreign aid, has been slow to act.
alephnerd
We cut aid to Myanmar in 2021 [0][1]. There has been no official USAID presence since, especially as the US has been sanctioning Myanmar since 2021.
I agree with USAID's mission, but even if Trump was not in office today, the same result would have happened.
China and India have extremely close relations with the Junta and the various EAOs in Myanmar, and Russia has close ties with the Junta following our decision to sanction Myanmar in 2021 (along with a massive air force base in Cam Ranh). On the other hand, the US has not had a similar presence in ASEAN since the 1990s. No western nation has provided aid for this very reason.
Yet the NYT article skirts around this issue. 3 USAID advisors is not going to turn the tables when both China and India have deployed hundreds of military personnel and millions of dollars of aid, and US sanctions remain.
[0] - https://thediplomat.com/2021/02/the-coup-in-myanmar-a-grim-f...
[1] - https://theweek.com/speedreads/964574/required-cut-foreign-a...
hollerith
[flagged]
jiocrag
[flagged]
zzzeek
I think the victims of this earthquake, who will suffer a lot more as a result of these changes, will likely disagree with that. But I dont think they have internet access right now so you're good
transcriptase
Can you explain why it’s the responsibility of the U.S. taxpayer to be on the hook for the cost of responding to every single natural disaster on the face of the planet?
It seems as if for the last few years every nation on earth wants to have one hand taking money out of American citizens wallets while the other hand holds a phone posting online about how irredeemably stupid they are.
alephnerd
USAID has had a very limited presence in Myanmar for years after the junta took control and Biden sanctioned the junta.
Most other nations across ASEAN (such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and even Thailand) also began reducing USAID's presence because aid was increasingly being tied with democratization [0].
Why deal with aid with strings attached when China, Japan, India, Russia, and South Korea provide similar aid with no democratization requirements.
I've written in depth about this with regards to Cambodia, but the same dynamics played out in Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam as well [1], though Thailand and Vietnam were important enough that "consensus building" took lower priority.
[0] - https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2023/12/examining-us-...
wg0
[flagged]
umanwizard
Obviously he has not shut it down yet, given that it's currently accessible. Perhaps I don't understand your "genuine" question.
bfdm
Care to try to explain how that would be a positive change for America?
okayokayokay123
[flagged]
floatrock
[flagged]
alephnerd
Not a geologist, but this absolutely is just recency bias.
Magnitude 7 earthquakes happen constantly throughout the year [0][1], but never make the news because they are either out of the way or drowned out by other news.
Also, earthquake deaths are correlated with government capacity. Compare Myanmar with Thailand (BKK is just as far as Yangon is from the epicenter), yet only 1 under construction building fell in Bangkok, despite hundreds of much smaller buildings collapsing all over Myanmar.
Myanmar is a country in the midst of a protracted civil war, and in a lot of cases there just isn't any government outside of the largest cities. And even then you are seeing more building collapses in Yangon than in BKK. Also, Chiang Mai (Thailand's second city) is also fairly close to the epicenter compared to other cities, yet there was marginal destruction there.
It's the same way how an earthquake the size of 2010 Haiti (6.5) only elicits a yawn in California and 0 deaths.
[0] - https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/browse/significant.p...
[1] - https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/browse/significant.p...
rewtraw
> second coming of jesus is about to reveal himself
this, the arc of the covenant news, UAPs, solar storms, PNW & midwest storms, fires, etc... wouldn't be surprised at this point. its actually becoming somewhat mainstream to believe that a 'cataclysm' is coming given recent events.
xipho
It has always been mainstream, it's central to the narative in the most owned book in the world.
Some good news: it seems the possible tsunami didn't in fact happen, and the "all clear" has been given for the warning.