M4.9 earthquake strikes off Vanuatu
A moderate quake hit 186 km west-northwest of Port-Olry, Vanuatu at 03:51 UTC on Oct. 24, 2026.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck 186 kilometres west-northwest of Port-Olry, Vanuatu, at 03:51 UTC on October 24, 2026.
4.9 earthquake occurred 186km WNW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu at 03:51 UTC!— Automated alert
The event occurred at a shallow depth offshore. No felt reports, damage, or casualties have been associated with it, consistent with its moderate size and remote location.
The area sits along the North New Hebrides trench, where the Australia plate subducts eastward beneath the Pacific plate. According to sms-tsunami-warning.com, Australia-Pacific convergence rates along this trench range from 80 to 90 mm per year, with the Australia plate's overall consumption rate pushed higher still by back-arc spreading — making the eastern margin of the Australia plate one of the most seismically active regions on Earth.
Details for the event remain preliminary and may be revised by USGS or other monitoring agencies.
Why it matters — Even a moderate aftershock in this seismically volatile zone warrants monitoring, given the region's capacity to generate tsunamis — as the earlier M6.9 warning the same morning demonstrated.
⚠ Not yet confirmed
- The M6.9 was preliminarily reported as high as M7.2
- The M4.9 is characterised as a smaller event or aftershock of the M6.9
- M6.9 (or M7.2) earlier tremor and 80-minute interval
- tsunami warning and subsequent lifting
- specific depth of 10 km
- multi-source summary attribution for depth
Reported by usgs.gov, sms-tsunami-warning.com
