Earthquake in Tonga
The 2006 Tonga earthquake occurred on 4 May at ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;04:26:35 local time with a moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (very strong). One injury occurred and a non-destructive tsunami was observed.
Earthquake.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a warning 17 minutes after the earthquake for coastal areas around the Pacific. An hour later, the center downgraded the warning to only the region within 600 miles of the epicenter, and an hour after that, it canceled the alert. The earthquake was followed by a pair of large aftershocks the next day.
Damage.
The event caused very limited damage. The previous large earthquake in Tonga, in 1977, was of a lower magnitude but resulted in more severe damage. A likely cause is that the 2006 quake generated other frequencies that only resulted in resonance in small items. In shops, cans and bottles fell from shelves.
Tsunami.
Since the earthquake occurred underwater, tsunami warnings were issued, but then lifted. A small tsunami was observed. Later analysis showed the earthquake to be a slab-tearing event and so less conducive to tsunami generation.
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;