Moderate magnitude 4.8 quake hits 99 km southwest of Norala, Philippines late at night

Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency reported a magnitude 4.8 quake in the Philippines near Norala, South Cotabato, Soccsksargen, only 11 minutes ago. The earthquake hit late at night on Wednesday, January 28th, 2026, at 11:58 pm local time at a shallow depth of 12. km. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) which listed the quake at magnitude 4.8 as well. A third agency, the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake, reported the same quake at magnitude 4.6.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Palimbang (pop. 4,900) located 37 km from the epicenter, Sangay (pop. 3,800) 43 km away, Kalamansig (pop. 12,800) 54 km away, and Lake Sebu (pop. 21,800) 94 km away.
Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Laguilayan (pop. 17,800) located 96 km from the epicenter, Norala (pop. 48,500) 99 km away, Koronadal (pop. 201,800) 117 km away, and Koronadal (pop. 201,800) 117 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you’re in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.


Earthquake data:
Date & time: Jan 28, 2026 11:58 pm (GMT +8) local time (28 Jan 2026 15:58 GMT)
Magnitude: 4.8
Depth: 12.00 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 6.1°N / 123.87°E (Soccsksargen, Philippines)
Primary data source: BMKG
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