Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.1ml
Earthquake near Hilo, HI
USGS: 10 km SSW of Pa‘auilo, Hawaii
45 km (28 mi) NW of Hilo, HI
- When
- 12:30 pm HST on 6 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 41 km (26 mi) NW of Hilo, HI · earthquakes near Hilo
- Magnitude
- M 3.1 (ml)
- Depth
- 11 km below the surface
- Felt
- 2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
- Nearest
- Hawaii County, 41 km SSW
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3 hours ago
A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded 41 km (26 mi) NW of Hilo, HI, at 12:30 pm HST on 6 October 2026 (22:30 UTC). 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS. This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Honoka‘a, Laupāhoehoe, Waimea.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.4× more
Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 5.3 on 2019-04-14 — about 2,300 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 6.2 3 km WSW of Honomu, Hawaii · 28 km ESE of this epicentre
Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.
Where
Epicentre 19.9548, -155.4030. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii County, HI | 41 km (26 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Hawaii County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| felt reports | 1 | 2 | |
| review status | automatic | reviewed | |
| longitude | -155.4 | -155.4 | |
| latitude | 19.96 | 19.95 | |
| depth | 8.62 | 11.07 | |
| magnitude | 3.03 | 3.1 | |
| reported intensity | not reported | 2.2 | |
| felt reports | not reported | 1 |
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.