Earthquakes in Indonesia through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 1,466 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Indonesia. 187 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 9.1 on December 26, 2004 (2004 Sumatra - Andaman Islands Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 73 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 23 (207 km NE of Lospalos, Timor Leste). The strongest: magnitude 5.9 on October 3 (39 km WSW of Tambolaka, Indonesia).
What the record holds
It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 227,899 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 423 here, back to AD 416. NOAA records deaths in 310 of the events here, 424,472 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.8 on August 14, 2026 (66 km NNW of Ende, Indonesia). NOAA’s record here begins in AD 416 with a tsunami (Java-S. Java). It grows thinner going back: 277 of the 423 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 192 tsunamis that began in or off Indonesia, and 3 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 100 m, on February 17, 1674. The deadliest, on December 26, 2004, killed 167,540 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 218 significant eruptions of 48 volcanoes in or off Indonesia. The largest was Tambora on April 10, 1815, at 7 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 60,000 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- August 14, 2026Earthquake · M 7.866 km NNW of Ende, Indonesia · 156 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 28, 2005Earthquake · M 8.678 km WSW of Singkil, Indonesia · 1,319 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 26, 2004Earthquake · M 9.12004 Sumatra - Andaman Islands Earthquake · 227,899 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 26, 2004Tsunami · 50.9 m hereOff W. Coast Of Sumatra · 167,540 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 1, 1938Earthquake · M 8.51938 Banda Sea EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 27, 1883Eruption · VEI 6Krakatau · 36,417 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 16, 1861Earthquake · M 8.5 (est.)Lagundi, Simuk, Tello I · 1,105 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 8, 1818Earthquake · M 8.5 (est.)Sumbawa Island: BimaNOAA NCEI
- April 10, 1815Eruption · VEI 7Tambora · 60,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 17, 1674Tsunami · 100 m hereBanda Sea · 2,244 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- AD 416TsunamiJava-S. JavaNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Indonesia when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Indonesia is the nearest country.
- 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.
- The map frames the box around Indonesia, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- 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