Vanuatu earthquakes

M5.0 earthquake 191 km NW of Sola, Vanuatu

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck 191 km NW of Sola, Vanuatu on Thu, Oct 23, 1980, 4:47 PM GMT+11 (05:47 UTC), 33 km (21 mi) below the surface.

A larger quake followed: M6.2 178 km WNW of Sola, Vanuatu. This one was a foreshock.

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The earthquake

Magnitude
5.0 (mb), moderate
Local time
UTC
1980-10-23 05:47:03 UTC
Depth
33.0 km (20.5 mi), shallow
Epicenter
12.589° S, 166.366° E
Region
Vanuatu
Tsunami flag
No
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Depth from
OPERATOR_ASSIGNED
Stations used
42

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 2.0 and up: 7 in the 60 days after this one and 3 in the 30 days before it.

After

  1. 6.2178 km WNW of Sola, Vanuatu · 16766 days ago · 33 km deep · 58 km away
  2. 4.8210 km WNW of Sola, Vanuatu · 16764 days ago · 86 km deep · 60 km away
  3. 4.6155 km S of Lata, Solomon Islands · 16750 days ago · 33 km deep · 67 km away
  4. 5.1159 km SSE of Lata, Solomon Islands · 16749 days ago · 51 km deep · 56 km away
  5. 5.2200 km NW of Sola, Vanuatu · 16747 days ago · 33 km deep · 17 km away
  6. 4.6101 km NW of Sola, Vanuatu · 16747 days ago · 161 km deep · 92 km away
  7. 5.1190 km NW of Sola, Vanuatu · 16724 days ago · 55 km deep · 8 km away

Before

  1. 5.2104 km NW of Sola, Vanuatu · 16773 days ago · 191 km deep · 89 km away
  2. 5.3155 km NW of Sola, Vanuatu · 16778 days ago · 39 km deep · 37 km away
  3. 4.9186 km NNW of Sola, Vanuatu · 16784 days ago · 33 km deep · 45 km away

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Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0001acv (also filed as iscgem637501). Read Tue, Sep 22, 2026, 11:01 AM UTC.