EARTHQUAKEM5.3

M5.3 earthquake in the Bonin Islands, Japan region

Map: the earthquake in the Bonin Islands, Japan region, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck in the Bonin Islands, Japan region on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 22:14 UTC, at a depth of 485 km (301 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Quakes this deep are usually felt widely but rarely cause damage. It struck far from land: no town on our map lies within 600 km (373 mi). The nearest city of a million or more people is Yokohama, Japan, about 842 km (523 mi) away.

MagnitudeM5.3
Depth485 km (301 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 25 22:14
Location27.86°N 139.69°E
Energy1 kilotons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+1
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck 485 km (301 mi) down, about 332 km (206 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 5.3 released roughly the energy of 1 kilotons of TNT. That is about 89 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 2,000,000 times more than this one.

Aftershocks

In the first 6 hours after it, USGS recorded 1 smaller earthquake of magnitude 2.5 or more within 100 km (62 mi). It was a magnitude 4.8 on October 25 at 22:16 UTC.

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 67 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 25, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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