M 7 in Vanuatu on 08 Jan 2023 12:32 UTC

Event summary

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

GDACS ID EQ 1353543
Earthquake Magnitude: 7.0M
Glide number: EQ-2023-000003-VUT
Depth: 27.7 Km
Lat/Lon: -14.9383 , 166.8778
Event Date: 08 Jan 2023 12:32 UTC
08 Jan 2023 23:32 Local
Exposed Population: 10 thousand (in MMI>=VII)
Inserted at: 08 Jan 2023 12:51 UTC
INFORM Coping capacity:
6.1 (Vanuatu)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
  Earthquake
(Shakemap)		 Tsunami GDACS score
NEIC 1 0.2 1
us7000j2yw Scaled population (raster) 2.92 Max wave alert 0.2m  
  C1 shakemap -0.59 Max wave realtime 0.2m  
  C2 shakemap 0.53      
  Country Vulnerability 0      
  INFORM_normalised 1.12      
Maximum expected impact using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Vanuatu - Earthquake (ECHO 09 Jan 2023)Mon, 09 Jan 2023 11:32

  • An earthquake of 7M at a depth of 27.7 km occurred 25 km off of the northern coast of Espiritu Santo Island (central-northern Vanuatu) on 8 January at 12.32 UTC (23.32 local time). The epicentre was approximately 21 km west north-west of Port Olry village (Sanma Province, Espiritu Santo).
  • A tsunami threat has been issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center but was later lifted. Seven aftershocks of 4.6M-5.2M were recorded across northern Espiritu Santo Island. 
  • USGS PAGER estimates that up to 12,000 people were exposed to very strong shaking, and up to 45,000 people were exposed to strong shaking related to the main earthquake event.
  • According to media reports, there are no reports of any casualties or damage, however assessment is still ongoing.
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)

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 (90), NEIC (6), OCHA (1), DesInventar (2), WMO (2), USGS (5), (3), INFORM (4),