EARTHQUAKEM5.2

M5.2 earthquake near Sola, Vanuatu

Map: the earthquake near Sola, Vanuatu, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck 161 km (100 mi) west of Sola, Vanuatu on Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 13:06 UTC, at a depth of 10 km (6 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Shallow quakes like this one shake the surface hardest.

MagnitudeM5.2
Depth10 km (6 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 15 13:06
Location13.89°S 166.06°E
Nearest townSola · 161 km
Energy951 tons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+50
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck right along the boundary between the Pacific and Australian plates. Most earthquakes happen along plate boundaries like this one, where the pieces of Earth’s outer shell collide, pull apart or grind past each other. Stress builds up over years until the rock suddenly slips.

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 5.2 released roughly the energy of 951 tons of TNT. That is about 63 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 2,800,000 times more than this one.

Aftershocks

In the first 11 days after it, USGS recorded 50 smaller earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 100 km (62 mi). The largest was a magnitude 5.1 on October 23 at 22:05 UTC.

A stronger magnitude 6.9 followed on October 24 at 02:31 UTC, about 58 km (36 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 332 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 15, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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