EARTHQUAKEM5.0

M5.0 earthquake near Hihifo, Tonga

Map: the earthquake near Hihifo, Tonga, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck 95 km (59 mi) north-northeast of Hihifo, Tonga on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at 09:07 UTC, at a depth of 10 km (6 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Shallow quakes like this one shake the surface hardest.

MagnitudeM5.0
Depth10 km (6 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 27 09:07
Location15.17°S 173.41°W
Nearest townHihifo · 95 km
Energy477 tons TNT
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck about 53 km (33 mi) from the boundary between the Pacific and Australian 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.

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 252 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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