Earthquakes in Indonesia, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 8,768 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off Indonesia. 15 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.8 on August 14, 2026 (66 km NNW of Ende, Indonesia).
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
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.5 on September 28, 2018 (72 km N of Palu, Indonesia), for which NOAA records 4,340 deaths. 58 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 52 of the events here, 6,576 in all. NOAA lists 16 tsunamis that began in or off Indonesia. The highest water NOAA records here was 85.27 m, on December 22, 2018. The deadliest, on September 28, 2018, killed 3,879 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 17 significant eruptions of 10 volcanoes in or off Indonesia. The largest was Krakatau on December 22, 2018, at 4 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 437 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
- April 1, 2026Earthquake · M 7.4129 km ESE of Bitung, Indonesia · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 9, 2023Earthquake · M 7.6Pulau Pulau Tanimbar, Indonesia · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 21, 2022Earthquake · M 5.611 km NE of Sukabumi, Indonesia · 635 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 24, 2019Earthquake · M 7.3Banda SeaUSGS
- December 22, 2018Tsunami · 85.27 m hereKrakatau · 152 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 22, 2018Eruption · VEI 4Krakatau · 437 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 28, 2018Earthquake · M 7.572 km N of Palu, Indonesia · 4,340 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 28, 2018Tsunami · 10.73 m hereSulawesi · 3,879 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 5, 2018Earthquake · M 6.936 km NW of Labuan Lombok, Indonesia · 560 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
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 are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- 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