At the location of this earthquake, the Indo-Australian plate moves towards the east-northeast with respect to the Pacific at a rate of approximately 75 mm/yr.

While commonly plotted as points on maps, earthquakes of this size are more appropriately described as slip over a larger fault area.

[10] Because of their remote locations far from land, these earthquakes do not cause significant shaking in populated areas and are not known to have resulted in damage or fatalities.

The Vanuatu region experiences a very high level of earthquake activity, with more than a dozen events of M 7+ having been recorded since the early decades of the 20th century.

The subducting Indo-Australian plate is seismically active to depths of about 350 km beneath the islands of Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Bases on inferring the finite fault model by the United States Geological Survey, slip along the rupture was distributed mainly on the shallow subduction zone interface, near the trench.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre reported waves up to 0.78 m (2.6 ft) high in Lenakel, Vanuatu.