Earthquakes in Vanuatu, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2,254 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off Vanuatu. 6 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.3, twice: on December 17, 2024 (24 km WNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu) and on March 30, 2026 (51 km ENE of Luganville, Vanuatu).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 10 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 December 17, 2024 was the deadliest: NOAA records 14 deaths for it. 5 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 18 in all. NOAA lists 5 tsunamis that began in or off Vanuatu, and 2 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 4 m, on December 5, 2018. NOAA lists 4 significant eruptions of 3 volcanoes in or off Vanuatu. The largest was Ambae on March 30, 2018, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 4 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- March 30, 2026Earthquake · M 7.351 km ENE of Luganville, VanuatuUSGS
- December 17, 2024Earthquake · M 7.324 km WNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu · 14 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 7, 2023Earthquake · M 7.1118 km S of Isangel, VanuatuUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- September 14, 2022Earthquake · M 7.0209 km SSE of Isangel, VanuatuUSGS
- December 5, 2018Tsunami · 4 m hereLoyalty IslandsNOAA NCEI
- August 29, 2018Earthquake · M 7.1238 km ESE of Tadine, New CaledoniaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 30, 2018Eruption · VEI 3Ambae · 4 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 23, 2017Eruption · VEI 3AmbaeNOAA 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 are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- 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