EARTHQUAKEM5.0

M5.0 earthquake in the south of the Fiji Islands

Map: the earthquake in the south of the Fiji Islands, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck in the south of the Fiji Islands on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at 15:31 UTC, at a depth of 509 km (316 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Quakes this deep are usually felt widely but rarely cause damage. The epicenter was about 547 km (340 mi) southwest of Nukualofa.

MagnitudeM5.0
Depth509 km (316 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 27 15:31
Location23.75°S 179.74°W
Nearest townNukualofa · 547 km
Energy477 tons TNT
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck about 241 km (150 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 509 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 5.0 released roughly the energy of 477 tons of TNT. That is about 32 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 5,600,000 times more than this one.

Earthquake history here

Before this earthquake, USGS had recorded 121 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 27, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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