Earthquakes near Ternate through history

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 21 here, back to 1550. NOAA records deaths in 16 of the events here, 3,740 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 1550 with an eruption (Kie Besi). 12 of the 21 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 5 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Ternate, and 3 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 10 m, on June 28, 1859. NOAA lists 17 significant eruptions of 3 volcanoes within 100 km of Ternate. The largest was Gamkonora on May 20, 1673, at 5 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Kie Besi in 1760, which killed 2,000 people by NOAA’s count.

• April 1, 2026Earthquake · M 7.4129 km ESE of Bitung, Indonesia · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• May 14, 1932Earthquake · M 7.7148 km SE of Tondano, Indonesia · 7 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
• September 6, 1889Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)N. Moluccas IslandsNOAA NCEI
• June 28, 1859Tsunami · 10 m hereN. Moluccas IslandsNOAA NCEI
• 1760Eruption · VEI 4Kie Besi · 2,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• May 20, 1673Eruption · VEI 5GamkonoraNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• 1550Eruption · VEI 3Kie BesiNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• An event counts for Ternate 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