Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 6.3mww
102 km NE of Norsup, Vanuatu
- When
- Magnitude
- M 6.3 (mww)
- Depth
- 10 km below the surface
- Felt
- 4 reports · strongest reported intensity VII
- Measured shaking
- intensity VIII (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2 hours ago
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake was recorded 102 km NE of Norsup, Vanuatu at 09:00 UTC on 2026-10-08. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS. This was a strong earthquake. Damage is likely near the epicentre and it is felt over a wide area.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 408 km (254 mi) from the epicentre. 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.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 43 kilotons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 7.3 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Ridgecrest, California 2019 M 7.1 16× the energy of this one
- Loma Prieta, California 1989 M 6.9 7.9× the energy of this one
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 4× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 6.3 about 43 kilotons of TNT
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 this one released 5.6× more
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 this one released 7.9× 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.
Where
Epicentre -15.5411, 168.1889. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
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 | 3 | 4 | |
| felt reports | 2 | 3 | |
| impact alert | not reported | green | |
| measured intensity | not reported | 7.65 | |
| reported intensity | 2.7 | 7 | |
| felt reports | 1 | 2 |
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.