EARTHQUAKEM4.5

M4.5 earthquake near Lunca Jariștei, Romania

Map: the earthquake near Lunca Jariștei, Romania, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 2 km (1 mi) west of Lunca Jariștei, Romania on Monday, October 19, 2026 at 08:51 UTC, at a depth of 125 km (78 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 Bucharest, Romania, about 117 km (73 mi) away.

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

MagnitudeM4.5
Depth125 km (78 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 19 08:51
Location45.48°N 26.22°E
Nearest townLunca Jariștei · 2 km
Energy85 tons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+0
Tsunami flagNo
Felt reports21
See it on the live 3D globe →Watch live on YouTube🔔 Get alerts near you

Why here?

This earthquake struck 125 km (78 mi) down, about 527 km (328 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 4.5 released roughly the energy of 85 tons of TNT. That is about 5.6 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 32,000,000 times more than this one.

Aftershocks

In the first 7 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 12 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 19, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

More from around the world