M 5.5 - Kermadec Islands region (reviewed)
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake was recorded by USGS near Kermadec Islands region. On the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program scale, M5.5 is classified "Moderate". Among the 1,740 earthquake reports Areazine has published, this M5.5 event ranks stronger than 89% of them (rank #155 by magnitude).
30 seconds on this earthquake report
- Magnitude
- M 5.5
- USGS class
- Moderate
- Location
- Kermadec Islands region
- Archive rank
- #155 of 1,740
- Source
- USGS
- Published
- September 18, 2026
Out of 1,740 earthquake reports Areazine has logged, this one outranks 89% of them — 154 recorded a higher magnitude.
Record status: USGS's reading at the moment of detection — the agency keeps revising magnitude, aftershock counts, and felt reports on its own event page as more data arrives.
What Happened
A M 5.5 mww earthquake occurred in the Kermadec Islands region on 2026-10-19 at 12:38:28 UTC. The event was located at latitude -27.8581, longitude -177.2286, with a depth of 94.054 km. The USGS reviewed the event.
Location Details
The earthquake was centered in the Kermadec Islands region. Coordinates place it at -27.8581 latitude and -177.2286 longitude. At 94 km depth, this is classified as a deep earthquake (greater than 70 km).
Impact Assessment
No felt reports were recorded. The alert level was green. No tsunami was generated (tsunami flag: 0).
What You Should Know
Earthquakes of this magnitude are considered moderate. Deep events like this are less likely to cause surface damage.
Source
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000tigd - USGS
Original source: USGS Official Notice ↗
Related Earthquakes
All Earthquakes →Comparable nationwide notices (length or severity timing) 8
Two Areazine-derived peer sets for this USGS earthquake report: nearest notices by body length and by same severity near the same agency date. Peers come from other categories so they are not the same-feed Related list above.
Similar body length
Nearest notices by article body length (803 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (medium) notices issued closest in time to September 18, 2026.
Questions & Answers
Questions readers often have about this USGS earthquake report.