Earthquake near Pāhala, HI

USGS: 27 km NNW of Pāhala, Hawaii

58 km (36 mi) WSW of Hilo, HI

8:18 pm HST, Oct 4, 2026 · 2026-10-05 06:18 UTC · 35 km deep · released about 240 lb of TNT

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Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.

When: 8:18 pm HST on 4 October 2026 (2026-10-05 06:18 UTC)
Where: 28 km (17 mi) NNW of Pāhala, HI · earthquakes near Pāhala
Magnitude: M 2.6 (ml)
Depth: 35 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Hawaii County, 19 km NNE
Nearest mapped fault: Mauna Loa Volcano, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 2 hours ago · we first saw it 2 hours ago

A magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded 28 km (17 mi) NNW of Pāhala, HI, at 8:18 pm HST on 4 October 2026 (06:18 UTC). This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 240 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 63,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 45,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.6 about 240 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 6.0 on 2026-05-23 — about 110,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 36 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

6.7 22 km W of Volcano, Hawaii · 13 km E of this epicentre Nov 16, 1983
6.4 Kaoiki area, Hawaii · 18 km E of this epicentre Mar 28, 1915
6.3 20 km SSW of Honaunau-Napoopoo, Hawaii · 41 km WSW of this epicentre Aug 21, 1951
6.2 8 km SW of Volcano, Hawaii · 29 km E of this epicentre Nov 2, 1918
6.2 21 km N of Pahala, Hawaii · 14 km ESE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1962

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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 19.4406, -155.5697. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction from the epicentre
Hawaii County, HI	19 km (12 mi)	NNE	earthquakes near Hawaii County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

2 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

1.8 10 km ENE of Pāhala, Hawaii 10:21 UTC
1.9 4 km S of Pāhala, Hawaii 09:01 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 10:50 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

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.