M6.3 earthquake in Vanuatu on October 20, 2026

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck on October 20, 2026 at 04:20 UTC. According to USGS the epicenter was 197 km northwest of Port-Olry, at a depth of 16 km. It was a shallow quake, and shallow quakes are usually felt most strongly at the surface.

6.3magnitude

16 kmdepth

04:20time UTC

greenUSGS alert

Live earthquake map →

Key facts

1 people reported feeling it to USGS. The USGS PAGER system issued a green alert, expecting little impact. USGS flagged the event as an oceanic-region earthquake. Regional tsunami warning centers publish any tsunami information.

Nearest cities

Sunshine Coast (Australia)1,917 km
Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea)2,068 km
Central Coast (Australia)2,595 km
Merauke (Indonesia)2,812 km
Jayapura (Indonesia)3,014 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 52 quakes of magnitude 4.5 or more within 150 km, the strongest M6.9.

M6.9 · Oct 24, 02:31 UTC9 km
M6.3 · Oct 24, 02:35 UTC30 km
M5.9 · Oct 24, 08:56 UTC8 km
M5.8 · Oct 24, 05:23 UTC16 km
M5.8 · Oct 24, 04:12 UTC10 km
M5.7 · Oct 24, 04:05 UTC10 km
M5.4 · Oct 25, 08:41 UTC12 km
M5.3 · Oct 24, 06:04 UTC23 km

Regional history

Since 1976 there have been 178 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 300 km. The strongest was M7.9 (July 17, 1980).

M7.9 · July 17, 1980167 km
M7.8 · October 7, 2009185 km
M7.7 · April 21, 1997196 km
M7.7 · October 7, 2009148 km
M7.5 · July 8, 1980196 km