Earthquakes

1. 1

   Japan withdraws mistaken magnitude 9.9 earthquake alert after Kamchatka quake

   5 sources

   Japan's weather agency issued an Oct. 16 alert for an estimated magnitude 9.9 quake, then withdrew it minutes later, The New York Times reported. Reuters reported the actual quake struck off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, and USGS lists it at magnitude 6.9. Japan's agency said it overestimated the magnitude while processing data from a distant quake.

   The New York Times · 4d ago →Reuters · 4d ago →USGS · 4d ago →
2. 2

   Magnitude 6.3 and 6.0 earthquakes strike off northern Vanuatu

   2 sources

   USGS recorded a magnitude 6.3 earthquake about 197 km northwest of Port-Olry, Vanuatu, on Oct. 20 at a depth of 16 km. USGS also recorded a magnitude 6.0 quake in the same area a day earlier, on Oct. 19. USGS issued a green alert for the larger quake, indicating a low likelihood of casualties and damage.

   USGS · 20h ago →USGS · 1d ago →
3. 3

   Magnitude 5.7 earthquake strikes Balochistan, Pakistan

   1 source

   USGS recorded a magnitude 5.7 earthquake about 48 km west-northwest of Khuzdar in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Oct. 17 at a depth of 10 km. USGS issued a yellow alert for the quake, its second-lowest level for possible shaking-related casualties and losses. The region lies near the boundary of the Indian and Eurasian plates.

   USGS · 3d ago →
4. 4

   Magnitude 5.6 earthquake shakes Interior Alaska

   2 sources

   A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck a remote part of Interior Alaska on Oct. 15, FOX Weather reported. USGS located the quake about 43 km north-northwest of Lake Minchumina and logged more than 100 "Did You Feel It?" reports. USGS put the quake's depth at about 4.5 km, which is shallow.

   FOX Weather · 5d ago →USGS · 5d ago →
5. 5

   USGS explains how Yellowstone earthquakes can be both volcanic and tectonic

   2 sources

   The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory said in an Oct. 19 USGS column that many Yellowstone earthquakes come from both tectonic stress and volcanic fluids. USGS seismologist David Shelly wrote that water-rich fluids released by cooling magma can weaken faults and trigger swarms. Yellowstone sits in the Intermountain Seismic Belt, which also produced Utah's 1934 magnitude 6.9 Hansel Valley quake.

   USGS · 1d ago →

Are earthquakes increasing? Not the big ones. The jump is in small quakes we can now detect.

USGS: “The ComCat earthquake catalog contains an increasing number of earthquakes in recent years -- not because there are more earthquakes, but because there are more seismic instruments and they are able to record more earthquakes.”

Counts queried directly from USGS's earthquake catalog (earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/count) on 2026-10-05. Explanation quoted from USGS's own FAQ.