EARTHQUAKEM4.8

M4.8 earthquake near Norsup, Vanuatu

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

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck 110 km (68 mi) northeast of Norsup, Vanuatu on Saturday, October 17, 2026 at 08:59 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.

1 person reported feeling it to USGS “Did You Feel It?”.

MagnitudeM4.8
Depth10 km (6 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 17 08:59
Location15.51°S 168.25°E
Nearest townNorsup · 110 km
Energy239 tons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+0
Tsunami flagNo
Felt reports1
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Why here?

This earthquake struck about 206 km (128 mi) from 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 4.8 released roughly the energy of 239 tons of TNT. That is about 16 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 11,000,000 times more than this one.

Aftershocks

In the first 9 days after it, USGS recorded no smaller earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 100 km (62 mi).

A stronger magnitude 4.9 followed on October 23 at 22:42 UTC, about 9 km (5 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 330 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 17, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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