QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.1md

Earthquake near Hilo, HI

Yes. A magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 17 km (10 mi) north-northeast of Hilo, HI, at 7:54 pm HST on 19 October 2026 (05:54 UTC), 42 km deep. No felt reports to USGS yet. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.

USGS: 7 km E of Honomu, Hawaii

21 km (13 mi) N of Hilo, HI

7:54 pm HST, Oct 19, 2026 · · 42 km deep · released about 46 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Hawaii County 57 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
7:54 pm HST on 19 October 2026 ()
Where
17 km (10 mi) north-northeast of Hilo, HI · earthquakes near Hilo
Hawaii today
every earthquake in Hawaii in the last 24 hours
Magnitude
M 2.1 (md)
Depth
42 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Hawaii County, 57 km WSW
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 15 hours ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Hilo, 17 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Pepeekeo, Pāpa‘ikou, Wainaku, Laupāhoehoe, Kea‘au.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 46 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 330,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 230,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 21× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 46 lb of TNT

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 4.9 on 2019-11-11 — about 16,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.2 3 km WSW of Honomu, Hawaii · 11 km W of this epicentre
  2. 5.6 6 km NNW of Volcano, Hawaii · 47 km SSW 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 19.8738, -155.0483. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Hawaii County, HI 57 km (35 mi) WSW 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.