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 Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 21:24 UTC, at a depth of 508 km (316 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 Auckland, about 1,369 km (850 mi) away.

MagnitudeM5.0
Depth508 km (316 mi)
Time (UTC)Nov 4 21:24
Location25.32°S 179.81°E
Energy477 tons TNT
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck 508 km (316 mi) down, about 316 km (197 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 5.0 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 84 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 November 4, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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