Earthquakes in Vanuatu through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 636 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Vanuatu. 82 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.1, twice: on March 28, 1875 (Loyalty Islands: Lifou Island) and on September 20, 1920 (1920 Vanuatu Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 9 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.8 on October 17 (110 km NE of Norsup, Vanuatu). The strongest: magnitude 6.3 on October 8 (102 km NE of Norsup, Vanuatu).
What the record holds
The one on March 28, 1875 was the deadliest: NOAA records 26 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 75 here, back to AD 50. NOAA records deaths in 11 of the events here, 289 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.3 on December 17, 2024 (24 km WNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu). NOAA’s record here begins in AD 50 with an eruption (Ambrym). It grows thinner going back: 52 of the 75 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 49 tsunamis that began in or off Vanuatu, and 4 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 12 m, on January 10, 1878. The deadliest, on November 26, 1999, killed 5 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 18 significant eruptions of 5 volcanoes in or off Vanuatu. The largest was Ambrym in AD 50, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Ambae in 1870, which killed 100 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- December 17, 2024Earthquake · M 7.324 km WNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu · 14 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 26, 1999Tsunami · 6.6 m hereVanuatu Islands · 5 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 2, 1950Earthquake · M 7.999 km SW of Port-Vila, VanuatuUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- September 20, 1920Earthquake · M 8.11920 Vanuatu EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- 1914EruptionAmbae · 100 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 9, 1901Earthquake · M 7.9Southeast of the Loyalty IslandsUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- February 11, 1878Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)NOAA NCEI
- January 10, 1878Tsunami · 12 m hereTanna IslandNOAA NCEI
- March 28, 1875Earthquake · M 8.1 (est.)Loyalty Islands: Lifou Island · 26 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- 1870Eruption · VEI 2Ambae · 100 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- AD 50Eruption · VEI 6AmbrymNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Vanuatu when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Vanuatu is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Vanuatu, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history