Earth Changes · Daily Report · October 28, 2026, 12:06 AM CDT
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 210 km ENE of Nagqu, China at 6:57 p.m. UTC on Oct. 27, about 10 km (≈6 miles) below the surface, the U.S. Geological Survey reports[1]. The USGS PAGER system rates the expected impact GREEN. It was one of 23 quakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater in the past day.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Vance is churning in the eastern Pacific with top winds near 40 mph and a central pressure of 1003 millibars, moving northwest at 8 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.[2]
Elsewhere, Great Sitkin volcano is at alert level WATCH (aviation color code ORANGE), the Alaska Volcano Observatory says. Its latest update: “Slow eruption of lava within the summit crater continues.”[3]
Today at a Glance
- 23 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater, the largest M6.0
- 1 active tropical system: Tropical Storm Vance
- 17 severe or extreme U.S. weather alerts
- 4 U.S. volcanoes above normal, including Great Sitkin
- 3 sinkhole reports in the news
Could not be reached for this edition: Smithsonian weekly volcano report.
Where It’s Happening
Numbered pins match the list under the map. Storm and quake pins are the agencies' reported centers; sinkhole pins mark the town named in the report. Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors.
1. Extreme Weather
Tropical storms and hurricanes
- Tropical Storm Vance (eastern Pacific): top winds near 40 mph, moving northwest at 8 mph. Latest advisory.[2]
Across the United States, the National Weather Service has 17 alerts rated severe or extreme in effect.[4]
| Alert | Number | States |
|---|---|---|
| Coastal Flood Warning | 7 | CA, FL |
| Flood Warning | 5 | CO, FL, NM |
| Flood Watch | 1 | HI |
| Freeze Warning | 1 | CA |
| High Wind Warning | 1 | HI |
| Storm Warning | 1 | PK |
| Winter Storm Warning | 1 | AK |
The Storm Prediction Center says its highest risk level for severe thunderstorms today is marginal, on a scale that runs marginal, slight, enhanced, moderate, high.[5]
Around the world, GDACS logged 75 wildfire, 5 earthquake notices in the past two days, all at its lowest (Green) level.[6]
2. Earthquakes
The USGS recorded 23 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater in the past 24 hours.[7] The strongest:
| Mag. | Where | When | Depth | PAGER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | 214 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 28, 2:21 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.8 | 196 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 27, 8:55 a.m. UTC | 11 km | GREEN |
| 5.6 | 174 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 28, 2:59 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.5 | 221 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 28, 1:39 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.4 | 193 km WSW of Merizo Village, Guam | Oct. 27, 11:14 p.m. UTC | 101 km | GREEN |
| 5.4 | 210 km ENE of Nagqu, China | Oct. 27, 6:57 p.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.4 | 128 km S of Pundong, Indonesia | Oct. 27, 2:44 p.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.2 | 220 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 28, 2:17 a.m. UTC | 10 km | — |
PAGER is the USGS estimate of likely deaths and damage: GREEN means little or none expected, RED means extensive. A dash means none was issued.
Earlier this week: The USGS is also continuing to monitor ongoing aftershocks and impacts from significant earthquakes recorded over the past seven days:[8]
| Mag. | Where | When | Depth | PAGER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.0 | 191 km ENE of Nagqu, China | Oct. 22, 2:33 p.m. UTC | 18 km | ORANGE |
| 6.9 | 197 km WNW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 24, 2:31 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 6.5 | Bonin Islands, Japan region | Oct. 25, 2:09 a.m. UTC | 492 km | GREEN |
3. Volcanoes
In the United States, 4 volcanoes are above normal background activity, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s observatories:
| Volcano | Alert / aviation code | Latest word from scientists |
|---|---|---|
| Great Sitkin | Watch / Orange | Slow eruption of lava within the summit crater continues.[3] |
| Ahyi Seamount | Advisory / Yellow | Plumes of discolored water seen in satellite imagery; no significant geophysical signals.[9] |
| Kilauea | Advisory / Yellow | The Halema'uma'u eruption of Kīlauea remains paused following episode 55 on October 17. The forecast for episode 56 fountaining has been pushed to Nov. 1-7, 2026.[10] |
| Shishaldin | Advisory / Yellow | Low-level unrest continues.[3] |
Alert levels run Normal, Advisory, Watch, Warning. Aviation codes run Green, Yellow, Orange, Red.
4. Sinkholes
No government agency publishes a live national sinkhole feed, so these come from today’s local news:
- Yahoo reports, “Nicolas Cage Is ‘So Stressed’ as Massive Sinkhole Threatens to Swallow $10.5 Million Malibu Mansion”[11]
- Bromley: London Now reports, “A major road has closed following reports of a sinkhole by Bromley Common – causing travel disruption for motorists this morning.”[12]
- NewsBreak: Local News & Alerts reports, “Large sinkhole on Gilbert Avenue repaired as area closure continues Comments You may also like KARE 11 Paramount Movies US Daily Content🇺🇸 Andrew Glassford Simotwo Jovial castiel”[13]
Also in the News
Other natural-hazard video from the past day, from news organizations:
Video: Associated Press, October 28, 2026 — “India evacuates tens of thousands as Cyclone Arnab nears Andhra Pradesh”. Also in the news. Picked because its title names a natural hazard; it may not be covered in the data above.
Video: NBC News, October 28, 2026 — “Relentless rounds of high tides flood communities”. Also in the news.
5. What the Experts Say
These are the words of the scientists and forecasters who watch these hazards for a living, quoted exactly.
“The structure of Vance continues to be heavily sheared and ragged based on the current visible satellite imagery. Some of the most recent images have shown that a small convective burst has occurred near the center, however it is also being blown away by the westerly wind shear at this point. In addition to the shear, there is dry air that is getting into the core of the storm, which is keeping the center of Vance fully exposed. The most recent objective intensity estimates from UW-CIMSS are in the range of 28-33 kt, while the latest TAFB Dvorak fix is a T2.0/30 kt. Given the available data the initial intensity has been held at 35 kt for this advisory.”
— Forecaster Katz/Beven, National Hurricane Center, on Tropical Storm Vance[14]
“Isolated severe thunderstorms are possible for a few more hours this evening across a small portion of Far West Texas.”
— Forecaster Bentley, NOAA Storm Prediction Center[5]
“The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.”
— U.S. Geological Survey, “Seismotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Australia Plate,” on the region around the M6.0 quake[15]
“Lava continues to erupt slowly within the summit crater of Great Sitkin Volcano. A few small earthquakes were detected in the past day. Cloudy conditions obscured satellite and webcam views over the past day.”
— Alaska Volcano Observatory, on Great Sitkin[3]
“Small plumes of discolored water were seen in the ocean above Ahyi on October 16 and 21 this past week. Discolored greenish water was visible drifting several hundred meters from the summit of Ahyi. These plumes are likely associated with degassing and hydrothermal activity at the summit of the underwater volcano.”
— Northern Mariana Islands, on Ahyi Seamount[9]
“Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or other rocks that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. Sinkholes are dramatic because the land usually stays intact for a while until the underground spaces just get too big.”
— U.S. Geological Survey Water Science School, on why sinkholes form[16]
How to Prepare
- Keep a basic kit: water (one gallon per person per day for several days), food, a battery or hand-crank radio, a whistle, a dust mask and phone chargers.[17]
- Get alerts: Wireless Emergency Alerts need no sign-up; the FEMA app, NOAA Weather Radio, the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and the USGS Volcano Notification Service are free.
- Floods: Turn Around, Don’t Drown. Six inches of moving water can knock you down, and one foot can sweep a car away.[18]
- Earthquakes: Drop, Cover and Hold On.[19]
- Download the checklist: Be Ready: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Extreme Weather and Sinkholes (PDF), with today’s active hazards first.
How to Verify This Yourself
- Earthquakes: USGS Latest Earthquakes map
- U.S. volcanoes: USGS Volcano Hazards Program; world: Smithsonian weekly report
- Weather alerts: weather.gov/alerts; tropics: nhc.noaa.gov
- Worldwide disasters: gdacs.org
References
- USGS, M5.4 210 km ENE of Nagqu, China event page earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- National Hurricane Center, active storms data nhc.noaa.gov. ↩
- Alaska Volcano Observatory, Great Sitkin notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- National Weather Service, active alerts API api.weather.gov. ↩
- NOAA Storm Prediction Center, Day 1 Convective Outlook spc.noaa.gov. ↩
- GDACS, Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System gdacs.org. ↩
- USGS, M4.5+ earthquakes, past day (real-time feed) earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- USGS, Significant earthquakes past week (real-time feed) earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- Northern Mariana Islands, Ahyi Seamount notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Kilauea notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- Yahoo, Nicolas Cage Is ‘So Stressed’ as Massive Sinkhole Threatens to Swallow $10.5 Million Malibu Mansion yahoo.com. ↩
- London Now, Warning as major road closed after burst water main sparks sinkhole in Bromley thisislocallondon.co.uk. ↩
- NewsBreak: Local News & Alerts, Large sinkhole on Gilbert Avenue repaired as area closure continues newsbreak.com. ↩
- National Hurricane Center, Vance forecast discussion nhc.noaa.gov. ↩
- USGS Geoserve, tectonic summary earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- USGS Water Science School, Sinkholes usgs.gov. ↩
- Ready.gov (FEMA), Build a Kit ready.gov. ↩
- Ready.gov (FEMA), Floods ready.gov. ↩
- Ready.gov (FEMA), Earthquakes ready.gov. ↩
Methodology: this report is assembled automatically each morning from the live data feeds of the USGS, the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program, the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center, the Storm Prediction Center and GDACS, plus same-day news reports for sinkholes. No AI writes it: the sentences are fixed templates filled with that data, and every quote is copied exactly from the source it is credited to. Data can change after publication; follow the links for the latest.
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