Earthquakes in Vanuatu — Page 3

Vanuatu is among the most consistently active regions in this catalogue, logging 100 events in the past 30 days alone, and 167 of the events on record reached magnitude 5 or above — the level at which damage becomes a genuine concern for vulnerable construction. Vanuatu sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and the depth distribution below shows the subducting slab beneath it directly.

387 earthquakes have been recorded in Vanuatu in our catalogue, 100 of them in the past 30 days.

The average magnitude is 5.0 and the average focal depth 91 km. 387 events reached magnitude 4 or above and 167 reached magnitude 5 or above.

The strongest earthquake recorded in Vanuatu in this period was a magnitude 7.3 event near Luganville, Vanuatu on 30 March 2026, at a depth of 116 km. A magnitude 7.3 earthquake radiates roughly 1.3 million tons of TNT equivalent in seismic energy.

Locations recording the most events include Isangel (66), Port-Vila (63), Sola (50), Port-Olry (34), Luganville (15).

64% of events here are shallow (under 70 km), 32% intermediate (70–300 km) and 4% deep-focus (over 300 km). A substantial share of intermediate-depth events points to a subducting slab beneath the region rather than purely crustal faulting.

The deepest event on record here was a magnitude 4.3 earthquake at 661 km beneath Sola, Vanuatu on 22 November 2025.

By band, the catalogue holds 220 in the magnitude 4 range, 145 in the magnitude 5 range, 18 in the magnitude 6 range, 4 in the magnitude 7 range.

The busiest single day was 24 October 2026, with 39 recorded events.

9 of these events carry a USGS link to NOAA tsunami information. That link flag does not mean a tsunami occurred or that a warning was issued.