Overall Green Earthquake in South Sandwich Islands Region on 17 Jan 2026 18:00 UTC

GDACS is a cooperation framework between the United Nations, the European Commission and disaster managers worldwide to improve awareness, information exchange and coordination in the first phase after major sudden-onset disasters.

M 5.4 in South Sandwich Islands Region on 17 Jan 2026 18:00 UTC

Hazard models

Rapid Impact

Shakemap

Tsunami

Event summary

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

Earthquake Magnitude:	5.4M
Depth:	68.5 Km
Lat/Lon:	-55.7583 , -28.8763
Event Date:	17 Jan 2026 18:00 UTC 17 Jan 2026 16:00 Local
Exposed Population:
Source:	NEIC us7000rqbc
Inserted at:	17 Jan 2026 18:18 UTC
INFORM Coping capacity of the alert score:	1.1 ()

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS score click here.

	Earthquake (Shakemap)		GDACS score
NEIC	0		0
us7000rqbc	Scaled population (raster)	0
	C1 shakemap	0
	C2 shakemap	0
	Country Vulnerability	0
	INFORM_normalised	0
	Score no CC	0

Maximum expected impact using different data sources.

ShakeMap is a product of the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program in conjunction with the regional seismic networks. ShakeMaps provide near-real-time maps of ground motion and shaking intensity following significant earthquakes.

Episode Timeline

ID	Level	Score	Date	Mag, Depth	MMI*	Population**	Tsunami risk***	Delay (hh:mm)	Source
1682729		0	17 Jan 2026 18:00	5.4M, 68.5km	3.74	N/A (in MMI>=VII)		00:18	NEIC

The episode that generated the alert; the next major evaluations beyond 12 hours will not trigger additional alerts.

The episode that has the last updated information.

* The max MMI detected for sources having shakemaps;
** The population detected in MMI>=7 for episode with shakemap or in a 100km radius;
*** The tsunami max height.

Exposed population

The earthquake happened in unknowed a zone. The alertlevel for this event is GREEN

Intensity	Population
	no people

Shakemaps Timeline

Shake id #	episodeid	Lat/Lon	Magnitude	Depth	Max MMI	Date shake (UTC)	Delay (hh:mm)
1	1682729	-28.876/-55.758	5.4	68.5	2.931	17 Jan 2026 18:26	00:25	(new episode)
2	1682729	-28.876/-55.758	5.4	68.5	2.931	17 Jan 2026 20:25	02:24	(upd of #1)
3	1682729	-28.876/-55.758	5.4	68.5	2.931	19 Jan 2026 14:00	1d 20:00	(upd of #2)

Affected Provinces

Critical infrastructure

Airports, ports, nuclear plants and hydrodams at risk, if affected, are listed below.

More information

For a full list of available products related to this event, please refer to the GDACS Resources page.

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