M6.1 earthquake in Vanuatu on March 20, 2026

Strong M6.1 quake: March 20, 2026, 02:30 UTC, epicenter 98 km west of Isangel. The rupture began 21 km below the surface. It was a shallow quake, and shallow quakes are usually felt most strongly at the surface.

6.1magnitude

21 kmdepth

02:30time UTC

greenUSGS alert

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Key facts

The USGS PAGER system issued a green alert, expecting little impact.

Nearest cities

Sunshine Coast (Australia)1,766 km
Central Coast (Australia)2,306 km
Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea)2,529 km
Merauke (Indonesia)3,242 km
Jayapura (Indonesia)3,537 km

Did you feel an earthquake?

Report it to seismologists. These reports help work out quickly where the shaking was strongest. It takes a minute.

Report to USGS (Did You Feel It?)Report to EMSC (LastQuake)

Aftershocks

Since then USGS has recorded 39 quakes of magnitude 4.5 or more within 150 km, the strongest M5.8.

M5.8 · Jul 8, 09:50 UTC124 km
M5.7 · May 19, 02:29 UTC125 km
M5.4 · Jul 8, 11:42 UTC119 km
M5.4 · Apr 2, 23:22 UTC124 km
M5.0 · Aug 28, 08:32 UTC16 km
M5.0 · Aug 20, 00:20 UTC144 km
M5.0 · Jul 8, 11:45 UTC111 km
M4.9 · Oct 24, 19:18 UTC94 km

Regional history

Since 1976 there have been 172 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 300 km. The strongest was M7.4 (October 11, 1992).

M7.4 · October 11, 199260 km
M7.3 · December 17, 2024179 km
M7.3 · December 25, 201065 km
M7.3 · April 9, 2008103 km
M7.3 · August 10, 2010196 km