Significant magnitude 5.3 quake hits 100 km east of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia in the afternoon

Russia was shaken near Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Oblast, by an earthquake of magnitude 5.3 only 23 minutes ago, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) reported.
The quake hit at a moderately shallow depth of 41. km beneath the epicenter near Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, in the afternoon on Wednesday, January 28th, 2026, at 4:34 pm local time. 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 citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake which listed the quake at magnitude 5.3 as well.
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 Novikovo (pop. 800) located 76 km from the epicenter, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (pop. 199,000) 100 km away, Korsakov (pop. 35,100) 100 km away, Dolinsk (pop. 12,000) 107 km away, and Aniva (pop. 8,000) 116 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 04:34 pm (GMT +10) local time (28 Jan 2026 06:34 GMT)
Magnitude: 5.3
Depth: 41.00 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 46.87°N / 144.04°E (Sakhalin Oblast, Russia)
Primary data source: GFZ
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