Vanuatu earthquakes

M5.4 earthquake 40 km NE of Luganville, Vanuatu

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 40 km NE of Luganville, Vanuatu on Fri, Mar 26, 1982, 4:33 AM GMT+11 (17:33 UTC), 107 km (66 mi) below the surface.

A larger quake followed: M5.7 33 km E of Port-Olry, Vanuatu. This one was a foreshock.

Port-Vila forecast More in Vanuatu

Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 5.4 (mb, body-wave), moderate
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Fri, Mar 26, 1982, 4:33 AM GMT+11
UTC: 1982-03-25 17:33:54 UTC
Depth: 107.0 km (66.5 mi), intermediate-depth
Epicenter: 15.305° S, 167.468° E
Region: Vanuatu
Tsunami flag: No
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Magnitude estimates

Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
5.4	mb, body-wave	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed · 9 stations
5.15	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
5.2	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary

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: CONSTRAINED_BY_DEPTH_PHASES

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Port-Vila, VanuatuPopulation 35,901. Forecast285 kmNNW

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 2.4 and up: 10 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.

After

Before

4.255 km ESE of Port-Olry, VanuatuSun, Mar 14, 5:56 AM GMT+11 · 16273 days ago · 176 km deep · 16 km away

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Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0001kbd (also filed as gcmtb032582b, gcmt19820325173354, iscgem602970). Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 5:19 AM UTC.