Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake Strikes Near Lata, Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands were shaken by the largest earthquake recorded anywhere in the world so far today. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck at 03:34 UTC on Monday, November 9, 2026 (2:34 p.m. local time), with its epicentre about 30 kilometres (19 miles) west-southwest of Lata, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The quake was shallow, at a depth of 17.0 kilometres, near the Santa Cruz Islands in Temotu Province.

Lata, the main town of Temotu Province, is the closest populated centre to the epicentre. The USGS issued a green alert for the event, indicating a low likelihood of casualties or damage, with a maximum estimated shaking intensity of VI and a significance index of 630 on a scale that runs to 1,000.

No casualties or infrastructure damage were reported in the first wire reports after the earthquake, and there is no tsunami threat associated with the event, based on its location and the available data.

The mainshock struck at 03:34 UTC at coordinates near 10.9°S, 165.6°E, beneath the waters west-southwest of Lata. At 17 kilometres deep, it sits in the shallow crust, the depth range where earthquakes are typically felt most sharply at the surface — but this one struck offshore, near a sparsely populated island group, which is why the USGS impact estimate stayed low.

Early agency determinations placed the epicentre 27 kilometres southwest of Lata at a depth of about 25 kilometres; the USGS reviewed solution puts it 30 kilometres west-southwest of Lata at 17 kilometres. Small revisions like that are normal in the first hours as more seismic stations report in.

The day's seismic sequence did not end with the mainshock. USGS recorded a magnitude 4.8 earthquake at 05:16 UTC, about 26 kilometres southwest of Lata at a depth of 10 kilometres — the kind of aftershock a shallow magnitude 6.4 event is expected to produce, and a reminder that the sequence is still active.

No. No tsunami warning, watch or advisory was issued for this earthquake, and the assessment based on the event's location and available data is that there is no tsunami threat. The Malaysian Meteorological Department likewise confirmed there was no tsunami threat to Malaysia from the Santa Cruz Islands event.

That pairing — a strong, shallow, offshore quake with no tsunami — is common in this part of the Pacific: tsunami generation depends on how the seafloor itself moves, not on magnitude alone, and the agencies that run the warning system assessed this rupture as not displacing the water column in a dangerous way.

The Solomon Islands sit along the boundary of the Australian and Pacific plates, in one of the most seismically active zones on Earth. The Santa Cruz Islands, near today's epicentre, lie along that plate boundary system, where subduction steadily loads the faults that periodically release as strong shallow earthquakes.

For island communities like Lata, that geology is a standing condition rather than a surprise: harbours, coastal roads and regional airstrips that link the outer islands are the infrastructure most exposed when a strong quake strikes nearby, which is why the first damage checks after an event like this one focus on those links.

Yes. A magnitude 4.8 aftershock was already recorded less than two hours after the mainshock, and aftershock sequences after a shallow magnitude 6.4 typically continue for days to weeks, declining in frequency over time. The largest aftershocks are usually about a magnitude unit smaller than the mainshock, though the sequence is monitored rather than predicted.

Anyone checking on the region should rely on the USGS event record as it updates: magnitudes, depths and impact estimates for events like this one are revised as more data arrives, and the reviewed figures in this story are the ones to quote.

WorldEye's earthquake tracker plots the latest USGS-catalogued earthquakes on the same live globe as the site's 74,229 cameras, so the Lata mainshock and the aftershocks that follow it can be followed in sequence against the rest of the Pacific's activity today.

For the authoritative record, the [USGS event page for this earthquake](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000tx16) carries the reviewed magnitude, depth, impact alerts and any further revisions as seismologists complete their analysis.