Earthquakes in Vanuatu: Live Map & the 2024 Port Vila Quake

Vanuatu is one of the most seismically active nations on Earth relative to its size, sitting directly above the New Hebrides subduction zone, where the Australian plate dives beneath the Pacific plate at a rapid rate along the eastern edge of the archipelago. This intense, fast convergence generates earthquakes somewhere in the island chain almost every day, along with active volcanoes such as Yasur and Ambrym.

On 17 December 2024, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck just off Efate island, close to the capital Port Vila, killing at least 14 people, collapsing multi-storey buildings including foreign embassies, and cutting the port and water supply for days. It was the deadliest earthquake to hit Vanuatu in decades and a stark reminder of how exposed even the capital is to sudden, shallow ruptures on the subduction interface just offshore.

The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department monitors seismic and volcanic activity across the archipelago and issues tsunami warnings when needed, since many of the country's largest earthquakes occur close enough to shore to threaten coastal communities within minutes. With scattered, often remote islands and limited infrastructure, Vanuatu's earthquake risk is compounded by slow emergency response times, making community-level preparedness and early warning especially important here.