EARTHQUAKEM5.9

M5.9 earthquake in the Fiji region

Map: the earthquake in the Fiji region, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck in the Fiji region on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 at 10:49 UTC, at a depth of 585 km (364 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Quakes this deep are usually felt widely but rarely cause damage. The epicenter was about 369 km (229 mi) west of Nukualofa, Tonga.

USGS’s PAGER impact estimate is GREEN: little or no damage expected.

MagnitudeM5.9
Depth585 km (364 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 14 10:49
Location20.99°S 178.77°W
Nearest townNukualofa · 369 km
Energy11 kilotons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+3
Tsunami flagNo
PAGER alertGREEN
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Why here?

This earthquake struck 585 km (364 mi) down, about 250 km (155 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.

What kind of fault?

USGS’s analysis of the seismic waves shows it was an oblique earthquake: the fault slipped partly sideways and partly as one block dropped down as the crust stretched.

Shaking and impact

USGS’s PAGER system estimates it most likely caused no deaths (90 percent probability). Early estimates are revised as reports come in.

How strong was it?

Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step releases about 32 times more energy. This magnitude 5.9 released roughly the energy of 11 kilotons of TNT, about as much as the Hiroshima atomic bomb. That is about 708 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 250,000 times more than this one.

Aftershocks

In the first 12 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 18 at 22:34 UTC.

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 159 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 14, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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