M 5.5 in Vanuatu on 16 May 2026 15:58 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 1541041
Earthquake Magnitude: 5.5M
Depth: 10 Km
Lat/Lon: -17.9035 , 169.0942
Event Date: 16 May 2026 15:58 UTC
17 May 2026 02:58 Local
Exposed Population: 70 thousand in MMI IV
Inserted at: 20 May 2026 21:24 UTC
INFORM Coping capacity:
1.1 (Vanuatu)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
  Earthquake
(Rapid Impact)		 GDACS score
NEIC 0 0
us6000sy90 Scaled population (vector) 0  
  C1 rapid impact 0  
  C2 rapid impact 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

Earthquake of Magnitude 5.7 Occurs Off Coast of Vanuatu Seismologists 5/19/2026 7:30:00 AM.

MOSCOW, May 19 (RIA Novosti) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 occurred off the coast of Vanuatu, according to the United States Geological Survey. The earthquake was recorded at 2:29 GMT 51 kilometers (31???.6 miles) southwest of the
...(more)
World Earthquake Report for Tuesday, 19 May 2026 5/19/2026 6:05:00 AM.

VANUATE: A magnitude 6 earthquake was recorded in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. According to the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ), the earthqu
...(more)
6.0-magnitude quake hits Vanuatu Islands -- GFZ 5/19/2026 4:19:00 AM.

HONG KONG, May 19 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted Vanuatu Islands at 0229 GMT on Tuesday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said. The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be a
...(more)
6.0-magnitude quake hits Vanuatu Islands -- GFZ 5/19/2026 4:18:00 AM.

HONG KONG, May 19 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted Vanuatu Islands at 0229 GMT on Tuesday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said. The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be a
...(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),