EARTHQUAKEM4.6

M4.6 earthquake in the south of the Fiji Islands

Map: the earthquake in the south of the Fiji Islands, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck in the south of the Fiji Islands on Friday, October 9, 2026 at 15:18 UTC, at a depth of 538 km (334 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Quakes this deep are usually felt widely but rarely cause damage. It struck far from land: no town on our map lies within 600 km (373 mi). The nearest city of a million or more people is Auckland, New Zealand, about 1,433 km (891 mi) away.

MagnitudeM4.6
Depth538 km (334 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 9 15:18
Location24.70°S 179.80°E
Energy120 tons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+3
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck 538 km (334 mi) down, about 294 km (182 mi) from the nearest plate boundary on the surface. Quakes this deep happen inside old ocean plate that has sunk far into the mantle at a subduction zone, long after it dove beneath its neighbor. Their great depth spreads the shaking over a wide area but usually keeps it gentle at the surface.

The red lines on the map are plate boundaries.

How strong was it?

Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step releases about 32 times more energy. This magnitude 4.6 released roughly the energy of 120 tons of TNT. That is about 7.9 times the energy of a magnitude 4.0, a quake people nearby feel but that rarely causes damage. The strongest earthquake ever recorded, magnitude 9.5 in Chile in 1960, released about 22,000,000 times more than this one.

Aftershocks

In the first 17 days after it, USGS recorded 3 smaller earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 100 km (62 mi). The largest was a magnitude 4.5 on October 12 at 05:15 UTC.

A stronger magnitude 4.9 followed on October 20 at 23:24 UTC, about 92 km (57 mi) away, so this one is now considered a foreshock.

Outside the United States, USGS mainly lists quakes of about magnitude 4 and up, so smaller aftershocks there are undercounted.

Earthquake history here

Before this earthquake, USGS had recorded 96 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger within 300 km (186 mi) since 1900. The strongest:

Official details, updates and the shaking map: USGS event page.

See every earthquake on October 9, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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