south of Africa

2 hours ago

USGS

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck south of Africa on 21 Oct 2026, 18:12 UTC. The hypocentre was 10 km below the surface — shallow by seismological convention. No felt reports have been received so far.

Depth: 10 km
Latitude: 52.83°S
Time: 18:12 UTC
Magnitude: M5.1

EPICENTRE

View the official report↗

MAGNITUDE 5.1

Can damage poorly constructed buildings; well-built structures usually escape with little harm.

The scale is logarithmic: this released about 45 times the energy of a magnitude 4.0, roughly the energy of 674 tonnes of TNT.

10 KM DEEP

Shallow earthquakes release their energy close to the surface, so they are felt more strongly, and do more damage, than deeper earthquakes of the same magnitude.