M 6.1 in Vanuatu on 20 Mar 2026 02:30 UTC

Event summary

This earthquake can have a low humanitarian impact based on the magnitude and the affected population and their vulnerability.

GDACS ID EQ 1530035
Earthquake Magnitude: 6.1M
Depth: 10 Km
Lat/Lon: -19.2927 , 168.3597
Event Date: 20 Mar 2026 02:30 UTC
20 Mar 2026 13:30 Local
Exposed Population: 60 thousand in MMI IV
Inserted at: 20 Mar 2026 02:48 UTC
INFORM Coping capacity:
1.1 (Vanuatu)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
  Earthquake
(Shakemap)		 GDACS score
NEIC 0 0
us6000shnl Scaled population (raster) 0  
  C1 shakemap 0  
  C2 shakemap 0  
  Country Vulnerability 0  
  INFORM_normalised 0  
Maximum expected impact using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Detailed event map. European Union, 2026. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

Latest media headlines

World Earthquake Report for Friday, 20 March 2026 3/20/2026 5:57:00 AM.

Stressing the urgent need for earthquake-resilient urban planning, Neelima Satyam Devarakonda, Institute Chair Professor of Civil Engineering at IIT Indore, has highlighted the importance of seismic microzonation in rapidly urbanising centr
...(more)
6.0-magnitude quake hits Vanuatu Islands -- GFZ 3/20/2026 3:46:00 AM.

HONG KONG, March 20 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted Vanuatu Islands at 02:30:37 GMT on Friday, the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences said. The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to
...(more)
6.0-magnitude quake hits Vanuatu Islands -- GFZ 3/20/2026 3:42:00 AM.

HONG KONG, March 20 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted Vanuatu Islands at 02:30:37 GMT on Friday, the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences said. The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to
...(more)
6.1-magnitude quake hits Vanuatu Islands -- GFZ 3/20/2026 3:36:00 AM.

BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 jolted Vanuatu Islands at 0230 GMT on Friday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said. The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at
...(more)

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (48), NEIC (4), OCHA (1), DesInventar (1), WMO (1), USGS (5), (2), INFORM (2),