Earthquakes on the Solomon Islands

Severe earthquake on May 22nd

In the night of May 22nd, 2023, a devastating earthquake occurred 55 km west-northwest of Kirakira at 02:45 local time. The quake had a magnitude of 6.1 points on the Richter scale and occurred at a depth of about 78 kilometers. In the course of the following days there were several aftershocks. One of them with a magnitude of over 2.5. The most severe aftershock had a magnitude of 5.6. Such violent earthquakes occur only rarely. It is the strongest earthquake on the Solomon Islands in 55 days. As recently as March 28th, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake occurred about 73 km west of Buala.

Most recent events

This list includes the strongest earthquakes recorded in or around the Solomon Islands by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the past 14 days. Whether an event is listed here depends largely on its magnitude, but also on its distance from inhabited areas. All data refer to the local time. This page is updated daily at 10:00 UTC.

Earthquakes on the Solomon Islands since 1950

The strongest earthquake on the Solomon Islands happened on 04/21/1977 in the Solomon Islands region with a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale. The shifting of tectonic plates in a depth of 9 km resulted in 18 deaths. The earthquake also triggered a tsunami, leading to further victims and destruction.

These statistics are based on datas from the National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): Significant Earthquake Database. doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K. Data have been summarized and translated.