Moderate mag. 5.3 earthquake - Coral Sea, 69 km north of Port-Olry, Sanma Province, Vanuatu, on Monday, Jan 18, 2021 at 6:17 pm (GMT +11)

The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) reported a magnitude 5.1 quake in Vanuatu near Port-Olry, Sanma Province, only 16 minutes ago. The earthquake hit early evening on Monday 18 January 2021 at 6:17 pm local time at an intermediate to considerable depth of 158 km. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
A second report was later issued by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), which listed it as a magnitude 5.3 earthquake.
Towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Port-Olry (pop. 2,000) located 69 km from the epicenter, Sola (pop. 1,200) 74 km away, and Luganville (pop. 13,400) 121 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.

Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in Vanuatu

Based on its magnitude, the fault that was active during the quake ruptured along a surface of approx. 20 km² (=8 sqare miles) as a first-order estimate. The length of the rupture zone thus was probably around 8 km (5 mi).
Aftershocks typically occur during the days and weeks following the quake at or near the same fault, at distances of up to approx. two times the length of the rupture zone.
The often broadly linear arrangement of aftershock epicenters encompasses the rupture zone of the main shock (check on the map below to verify).

Please wait while we search through millions of records.
This can take up to 20-30 seconds.

Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900!