On the August 18, 2018, M 8.2 earthquake near Fiji occurred as the result of deep, normal faulting approximately 560 km beneath the South Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometers to the west of the Tonga Trench. There were no reports of casualties.
Earthquakes that have focal depths greater than 300 km are commonly termed “deep-focus†earthquakes. Deep-focus earthquakes cause less damage on the ground surface above their foci than similar-magnitude shallow-focus earthquakes, but large deep-focus earthquakes may be felt at great distance from their epicenters.
The earthquake was recorded at seismic stations worldwide, including stations of the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), see seismic waveforms below (select figure to enlarge).
