QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 6.0mww

186 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu

Yes. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake was recorded 186 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu at 07:49 UTC on 2026-10-19, 10 km deep. No felt reports to USGS yet.

· 10 km deep · released about 15 kilotons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N
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
Magnitude
M 6.0 (mww)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1 hour ago

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 347 km (216 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 15 kilotons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 7.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Ridgecrest, California 2019 M 7.1 45× the energy of this one
  2. Loma Prieta, California 1989 M 6.9 22× the energy of this one
  3. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 6.0 about 15 kilotons of TNT
  5. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 this one released 2× more
  6. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 this one released 2.8× 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 in our catalogue was M 5.2 on 2026-10-15.

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 -14.0533, 165.6761. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 5.2 211 km WNW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu
  2. 5.4 184 km WNW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu
  3. 5.3 188 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu

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 changedFromToWhen
measured intensity3.914.01
location185 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu186 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu
longitude165.71165.68
latitude-14.03-14.05
magnitude5.96
impact alertnot reportedgreen
measured intensitynot reported3.91

On USGS

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