Shallow M5.2 Earthquake hit in the Philippine Sea near Laoang (The Philippines) on Wednesday Afternoon.

Written by Earthquakelist.org on October 21st, 2026.

In the late afternoon of Wednesday October 21st, 2026, a shallow and significant M5.2 earthquake hit in the Philippine Sea 81 kilometer from Laoang, The Philippines.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Philippine Sea, 69 kilometers (43 mi) off the coast of The Philippines, 81 kilometer north-east of Laoang in Eastern Visayas. The center of this earthquake had a very shallow depth of 10 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Oct 21, 2026 04:37PM (Manila Time) - Oct 21, 2026 08:37 Universal Time.
Location:	81 km NE of Laoang, Eastern Visayas, The Philippines. Coordinates 13°1'47"N 125°35'23"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.2 Detected by 101 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.057 .
Depth:	10 km (6 mi) A very shallow depth.
Tsunami Risk:	Low tsunami risk Earthquakes under MAG-6.5 do not usually cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Nearby towns and cities

This earthquake may have been felt in The Philippines . Located 81 kilometer (50 mi) north-east of the epicenter of this earthquake, Laoang (Eastern Visayas, The Philippines) is the nearest significant population center.

Multiple major population centers exist within 300km of the earthquake that struck today. Tacloban is located 209 km to the south. Panalanoy is located 208 km to the south. Legaspi is located 201 km to the west.

An overview of nearby towns and cities is available in the overview below.

Overview of nearby places

Risk of aftershocks?

This earthquake did not have any significant foreshocks nor aftershocks occurring within 100km (62 mi) of its epicenter.

Earthquakes can create aftershocks. These are generally at least 1 magnitude lower than any main shock, and as time passes the chance and strength of aftershocks decreases.

It's always adviced to be cautious of the risk of a larger shock following any significant earthquake, however this risk is fairly small. There is a roughly 94 percent change that no larger main shock will follow in the days following this earthquake.

Earthquakes like this happen often in the region

Earthquakes of this strength are very common in the region. This is the strongest earthquake to hit since July 29th, 2026, when a 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit 101 km (63 mi) further west. An even stronger magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck on September 30th, 2025.

In total, 30 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.2 or higher have been registered within 300km (186 mi) of this epicenter in the past 10 years. This comes down to an average of once every 4 months.

Low tsunami risk

Based on early data it appears this earthquake was not strong enough (lower than MAG-6.5) to be likely to cause destructive tsunami's. However this earthquake appeared to have hit at a shallow depth under sea, so stay cautious and monitor advice from local authorities.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Sources

Last updated 21/10/26 22:08 (). This article contains currently available information about the earthquake and is automatically composed. We continue to update this article up to a few days after the earthquake occurred.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us6000u3t6
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20261021_0000121
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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