Magnitude 6.1 earthquake — Port-Olry, Vanuatu

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck the Vanuatu archipelago in the South Pacific on 16 August 2026, with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) recording the event at 03:20 UTC (around 14:20 local time). The quake was centred approximately 56 km north-north-east of Port-Olry, a coastal settlement on the northern tip of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu's largest island. Crucially, the earthquake originated at an intermediate depth of roughly 188 km beneath the seabed, a factor that significantly reduced the intensity of shaking felt at the surface despite the quake's substantial magnitude.

USGS assessments classified the event under a green alert level, indicating a low likelihood of casualties or significant damage, with modelled shaking reaching a maximum Modified Mercalli Intensity of around 3.9 — corresponding to weak tremors that would be noticeable but unlikely to cause structural harm. No tsunami warning was issued, and only a single felt report had been logged with USGS at the time of assessment, consistent with the quake's depth and the sparse population near the epicentre. Vanuatu lies along the New Hebrides subduction zone, part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where the Australian Plate subducts beneath the Pacific Plate, making the archipelago one of the most seismically active regions in the world and prone to frequent earthquakes of this scale.