EARTHQUAKEM4.7

M4.7 earthquake near Sandy Point Town, Saint Kitts and Nevis

Map: the earthquake near Sandy Point Town, Saint Kitts and Nevis, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck 20 km (12 mi) southwest of Sandy Point Town, Saint Kitts and Nevis on Sunday, October 18, 2026 at 15:35 UTC, at a depth of 150 km (93 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At this intermediate depth, shaking spreads out before it reaches the surface. The nearest city of a million or more people is San Juan, Puerto Rico, about 356 km (221 mi) away.

3 people reported feeling it to USGS “Did You Feel It?”.

MagnitudeM4.7
Depth150 km (93 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 18 15:35
Location17.25°N 63.01°W
Nearest townSandy Point Town · 20 km
Energy169 tons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+0
Tsunami flagNo
Felt reports3
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Why here?

This earthquake struck 150 km (93 mi) down, about 252 km (157 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 4.7 released roughly the energy of 169 tons of TNT. That is about 11 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 16,000,000 times more than this one.

Aftershocks

In the first 8 days after it, USGS recorded no smaller earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 100 km (62 mi).

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 17 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 18, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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