Bitung

Earthquakes near Bitung through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 21 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Bitung, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 16 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 8 on September 6, 1889 (N. Moluccas Islands).

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The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Bitung in the last 30 days.

The latest: magnitude 4.7 on October 7 (22 km WNW of Manado, Indonesia).

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.7 on May 14, 1932 (148 km SE of Tondano, Indonesia), for which NOAA records 7 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 16 here, back to 1775. NOAA records deaths in 9 of the events here, 534 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.4 on April 1, 2026 (129 km ESE of Bitung, Indonesia). NOAA’s record here begins in 1775 with an eruption (Lokon-Empung). 9 of the 16 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 7 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Bitung, and 3 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 9 m, on September 29, 1899. NOAA lists 8 significant eruptions of 4 volcanoes within 100 km of Bitung. The largest was Lokon-Empung in 1775, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Ruang on March 3, 1871, which killed 400 people by NOAA’s count.

The events

Good to know

  • An event counts for Bitung when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
  • USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
  • NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
  • Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
  • A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
  • Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history

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