Magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes off Vanuatu; tsunami threat warning issued

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck offshore northern Vanuatu on Saturday morning, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, revising down an initial automatic estimate of 7.2 after review. (https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/magnitude-72-earthquake-strikes-waters-near-vanuatu-usgs-says-2026-10-24/; https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/10/24/shallow-69-magnitude-earthquake-rattles-vanuatu/)

The USGS put the epicentre 197 kilometres west-northwest of Port-Olry, Vanuatu, at a depth of 10 kilometres, at 02:31 UTC on Saturday (07:31 PKT). Its initial automatic solution had placed the quake about 200 km west of Sola, on the island of Vanua Lava, the main town of the Banks Islands. The epicentre lies to the north-west of Espiritu Santo, home to the country’s second city, Luganville. (https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000u4j2)

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said hazardous tsunami waves were possible for parts of Vanuatu, with warnings aimed at coastlines within about 300 km of the epicentre, the NZ Herald reported. New Zealand’s 1News said no threat area had been identified for New Zealand at this stage. (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/vanuatu-earthquake-72-magnitude-quake-struck-at-a-depth-of-10km/57EZGD3I6FHV3IX5ZU4CYA25DM/; https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/10/24/shallow-69-magnitude-earthquake-rattles-vanuatu/)

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, though the USGS had received only two felt reports by Saturday morning. The quake struck in the early hours of the Vanuatu morning on a shallow crustal fault along the boundary of the Australian and Pacific plates, in one of the Pacific’s most seismically active zones. (https://www.news18.com/world/7-2-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-vanuatu-islands-near-australia-tsunami-warning-issued-10395525.html)