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Green Earthquake alert in Fiji

 

Green Earthquake Alert in Fiji

Summary

On 11/22/2009 7:48:20 AM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 and depth 523.1km has struck an unpopulated area in the Fiji Province (population: 0.7 million) in Fiji. GDACS estimates the likelihood for need of international humanitarian intervention to be low (Green alert).

This earthquake can have a low humanitarian impact since the affected region is unpopulated and has high resilience for natural disasters.

The nearest populated places are [None]. It is a hilly region with a maximum altitude of 600 m.

Humanitarian Impact impact 
Population resilience vul 
Tsunami probability tsunami 
Landslide probability slope 
Nuclear radiation probability radiation 

Caution: this information is based on risk models. Whether international humanitarian aid is needed must be decided by an expert.

This report was automatically updated by a computer on: 11/22/2009 9:24:36 AM UTC (1 hour 36 minutes after the event)

Explanation of alert calculation: Show

Google map Population map
poplegendPopulation Density near epicenter (people/km2). Image area: 6x4 decimal degrees (approx. 650x450km2).
population map

Earthquake epicentre: best estimate eq_logo    previous estimates: eq_icon

Earthquake Event

Geological map
geological map

Characteristics for this report

Information source World Data Centre for Seismology, Denver (NEIC)
Link to source event report (us2009phaj)
PAGER report (2009phaj)
Magnitude 6.3 M
Depth 523.1 km
Location

Geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude): -17.7889, -178.4349
Fiji , Fiji Province (population: 755000).
Seismic region: Fiji Region.

The earthquake happened in Fiji , Fiji Province (population: 755000). . The nearest populated places are [None].

It is a hilly region with a maximum altitude of 600 m.

Time time 11/22/2009 7:48:20 AM (UTC, Universal Standard Time)
11/21/2009 7:54:36 PM (Estimated local solar time)
Sun, 11/22/2009 08:48 CET (Brussels, Paris, Rome)
Sun, 11/22/2009 02:48 EST (New York, Washington)
Sat, 11/21/2009 23:48 PST (San Francisco, Los Angeles)
Sun, 11/22/2009 15:48 AWST (Australian Western Standard Time)

Previous reports for this earthquake.

Earthquake reportTsunami reportEvent Date/TimeLat/LonMagnitudeDepth (km)SourcePublication Date/TimeDelay
6980011/22/2009 7:48:20 AM UTC-17.82, -178.296.2533GEOFON11/22/2009 7:59:05 AM UTC10min
6980111/22/2009 7:48:20 AM UTC-17.75, -178.126.2546PTWC (pt09326000)11/22/2009 8:03:18 AM UTC14min
6980211/22/2009 7:48:20 AM UTC-17.82, -178.376.3526GEOFON11/22/2009 8:03:19 AM UTC14min
6980311/22/2009 7:48:20 AM UTC-17.8, -178.416.3522GEOFON11/22/2009 8:08:44 AM UTC20min
6980411/22/2009 7:48:19 AM UTC-17.8451, -178.3026.2506.6NEIC (us2009phaj)11/22/2009 8:11:52 AM UTC23min
6981011/22/2009 7:48:02 AM UTC-17.82, -178.276.2519EMSC11/22/2009 8:54:22 AM UTC66min
6981511/22/2009 7:48:20 AM UTC-17.7889, -178.43496.3523.1NEIC (us2009phaj)11/22/2009 9:24:36 AM UTC96min

Earthquake Impact Details

shakemap

Potentially affected People

The population in the area of this earthquake if 0 people/kmē. (Data source).

The earthquake occurred at 19h local time. At this time a day, more people are at home and therefore more vulnerable to collapsing residential buildings. During traffic hours, people can be affected by collapsing bridges and other road infrastructure.

Population Data
Radius (km) Population Density (people/kmē)
1
2
5
10
20
50 220 
100 8514 
200 14574 

Damage

The affected region has low level of urban area (0%) and a low level of cultivated area (0%). In urban areas more damage can be expected than in cultivated or natural areas. (Data source)

Radius (km)urban areascultivated areasother
200 0% 0% 1000%
100 0% 0% 1000%
50 0% 0% 1000%
10 0% 0% 1000%

Resilience and Vulnerability

Resilience is the capacity of the population to cope with a hazard. Since much of investments in earthquake preparedness and available funds for quick response is related to household income, the GDP per capita can be used as a rough indicator of resilience.

Fiji has a GDP per capita of 2633 PPP$ (Parity Purchasing Power Dollar, about 1 Euro) and is therefore part of the high level income countries. Therefore, the earthquake happened in an area of high resilience.

Based on the combination of 9 indicators, ECHO attributes Fiji a low vulnerability.

ECHO Intervention Priority Ranking for Fiji
vulnerabilitylevel
Overall situation
Human Development hdi
Human Poverty hpi
Exposure to Major Disasters
Natural Disasters natdis
Conflicts conflicts
Humanitarian effects of population movement
Refugees refugees
Internally Displaced People idps
Health and Nutrition
Undernourishment food
Mortality rates under5
Donor contributions
Official Development assistance ODA
Source ECHO
Key: bad Bad - medium Medium - good Good - nodata No data

Exposure

Both conditions for survival and conditions for delivering aid strongly depend on the current weather and temperature. The following graphs show the current and forecast weather.

Current weather conditions and forecasts at earthquake location (lat: -17.7889 - long: -178.4349) (Data source).

Temperature chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.
Precipitation chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.
Cloud cover chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.

More detailed observations at closest weather station (Matei): WeatherByWeb - NOAA

Probability of Secondary effects

slopelevel Landslides: The maximum slope in the area of the earthquake is 65.104% and the maximum altitude is 600 m. Since this is a high slope, the risk of earthquake induced landslides is high. Note, however, that the slope data is not reliable on a local scale, while landslides depend very much on local topography, soil and meteorological conditions. More...

Critical infrastructure

The following critical infrastructure is nearby and could be affected by the earthquake:

The distance to nuclear installations is evaluated based on a 1999 UN dataset containing the location of nuclear plants in the world. If plants are near and the earthquake magnitude is above 6.5, the alert is set to orange. Note that the location of plants is approximate with errors of up to 100km.

Getting there and away

The nearest civilian airport (Matei) is at 196km from the epicenter. Other airports are: Matei (196km)

Ports nearby are: [None]

Disclaimer

While we try everything to ensure accuracy, this information is purely indicative and should not be used for any decision making without alternate sources of information. The JRC is not responsible for any damage or loss resulting from the use of the information presented on this website.

 

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