A magnitude 5.2 earthquake near Laoang, Northern Samar, Eastern Visayas, Philippines, was reported only 13 minutes ago by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), considered one of the key international agencies monitoring seismic activity worldwide. The earthquake occurred at a moderately shallow depth of 34. km beneath the epicenter on Wednesday afternoon, October 21st, 2026, at 4:37 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 the data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their reports.Our monitoring service identified a second report from Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency, which also listed the quake at magnitude 5.2. Other agencies reporting the same quake include the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake at magnitude 5.0, the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake at magnitude 5.2, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) at magnitude 5.2, and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) at magnitude 5.0.Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage but was probably felt by many people as light vibrations in the area of the epicenter. Weak shaking might have been felt in Palapag (pop. 8,300), located 68 km from the epicenter; Gamay (pop. 9,100), 72 km away; Laoang (pop. 16,700), 74 km away; Pambujan (pop. 10,800), 82 km away; and Catarman (pop. 97,700), 113 km away.VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update the magnitude and depth if they change and follow up if other significant news about the quake becomes 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 firsthand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.Earthquake data: Date & time: Oct 21, 2026 04:37 pm (GMT +8) local time (21 Oct 2026 08:37 GMT)Magnitude: 5.2Hypocenter depth: 34.00 kmEpicenter coordinates: 12.98°N / 125.55°E (Eastern Visayas, Philippines)Primary data source: EMSC