The source revised its record. The figures above now follow the revised record; the previous wording is kept below.The source record now contains the information this brief requires.The source no longer returns this record where it was previously listed. Under review; nothing has been withdrawn.The source revised its record. The figures above now follow the revised record; the previous wording is kept below.The source record now contains the information this brief requires.The source no longer returns this record where it was previously listed. Under review; nothing has been withdrawn.
Earthquakes · USGS earthquakes
Magnitude 6.3 earthquake recorded 197 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu
The United States Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 6.3 earthquake 197 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu on 20 October 2026.
Magnitude 6.3, on the moment magnitude (Mww) scale, solution status “reviewed”.
The scale is logarithmic: each whole step is roughly thirty-two times the energy
of the step below it, so distance along this axis is not distance in size.
Magnitude, location, depth and time are all this record establishes — it says
nothing about shaking felt, damage or casualties.
The hypocentre — where the rupture began — is recorded at 16 kilometres
below the surface, 197 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu. Depth is one of the four
things this record establishes. It is not a measure of severity, and nothing here
indicates what was felt at the surface.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on the moment magnitude (Mww) scale at 04:20 UTC on 20 October 2026. USGS gives the depth as 16.0 km and describes the location as “197 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu”.
USGS lists the solution status for this record as “reviewed”. The agency revises earthquake parameters as more instrument data arrives, so magnitude and depth can change after first publication. Any such change is shown in the revision history on this page.
This brief reports only what the USGS record states: magnitude, location, depth and time. It does not describe shaking felt, damage, casualties or any consequence of the earthquake, because the record used here does not establish those things.
Times
These are different things and are not interchangeable.
Event occurred
20 October 2026, 04:20 UTC (as recorded by the source)
round(properties.mag, 1)
Rounded to one decimal for display; the exact value is kept.
Magnitude scale
moment magnitude (Mww)
calculation
MAG_TYPE_LABELS[properties.magType]
Unrecognised scale codes are reported without a name.
Location as described by USGS
197 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu
field
properties.place
Depth
16.0 km
calculation
round(geometry.coordinates[2], 1)
Event time
2026-10-20T04:20:38.737000+00:00
calculation
datetime.fromtimestamp(properties.time / 1000, tz=UTC)
USGS reports milliseconds since the Unix epoch, in UTC.
Latitude
-13.9906
field
geometry.coordinates[1]
Longitude
165.5892
field
geometry.coordinates[0]
Solution status
reviewed
field
properties.status
Wording template earthquake version 1.0.
Revision history
20 October 2026, 05:30 UTC — The source revised its record
The source revised its record. The figures above now follow the revised record; the previous wording is kept below.
Show the wording this replaced
Magnitude 6.3 earthquake recorded 204 km WNW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on the moment magnitude (Mww) scale at 04:20 UTC on 20 October 2026. USGS gives the depth as 10.0 km and describes the location as “204 km WNW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu”.
USGS lists the solution status for this record as “reviewed”. The agency revises earthquake parameters as more instrument data arrives, so magnitude and depth can change after first publication. Any such change is shown in the revision history on this page.
This brief reports only what the USGS record states: magnitude, location, depth and time. It does not describe shaking felt, damage, casualties or any consequence of the earthquake, because the record used here does not establish those things.
20 October 2026, 04:44 UTC — First publication
Assembled from the source record listed under evidence.
What this record does not establish
Reviewed earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 and above, worldwide. Only magnitude, location, depth and time are reported, together with any later revision USGS makes. Automatic solutions USGS has not yet reviewed, events it classifies as something other than an earthquake, and anything below magnitude 6.0 are not reported. Effects, damage and casualties are never reported, because the USGS record used here does not establish them.
If something here is wrong, write to
[email protected]
quoting the record identifier above. Corrections are recorded on this page,
not made silently.