EARTHQUAKEM4.5

M4.5 earthquake near Levuka, Fiji

Map: the earthquake near Levuka, Fiji, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 193 km (120 mi) east-northeast of Levuka, Fiji on Friday, October 23, 2026 at 12:19 UTC, at a depth of 572 km (355 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Quakes this deep are usually felt widely but rarely cause damage.

MagnitudeM4.5
Depth572 km (355 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 23 12:19
Location17.68°S 178.90°W
Nearest townLevuka · 193 km
Energy85 tons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+0
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck about 223 km (138 mi) from the boundary between the Australian and Tonga 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. At 572 km down, it most likely broke inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle beneath its neighbor, in what geologists call a subduction zone.

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 3 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 151 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 23, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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