The 2009 Vanuatu earthquakes were a series of large submarine earthquakes that took place to the west of the Torres Islands of Vanuatu on October 7, 2009 UTC. A 7.6 M_w earthquake, at 22:03 UTC, was followed by a 7.8 M_w event 15 minutes later at 22:18 UTC, and a 7.3 M_w event at 23:13 UTC.