A magnitude 5.3 earthquake near Kasivobara, Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, was reported only 14 minutes ago by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), considered one of the key international agencies that monitor seismic activity worldwide. The earthquake occurred at a moderately shallow depth of 56. km beneath the epicenter early morning on Thursday, August 20th, 2026, at 5:07 am 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 France's Réseau National de Surveillance Sismique (RéNaSS) which listed the quake at magnitude 5.1. Other agencies reporting the same quake include the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake at magnitude 5.3, and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) at magnitude 5.3.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 Kasivobara (pop. 2,400) located 128 km from the epicenter.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: Aug 19, 2026 06:07 pm (Universal Time) local time (19 Aug 2026 18:07 GMT)Magnitude: 5.3Depth: 56.00 kmEpicenter latitude / longitude: 49.59°N / 155.78°E (Sakhalin Oblast, Russia)Primary data source: EMSC