Earthquakes in Timor-Leste, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 30 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Timor-Leste. The strongest was a magnitude 7.5 on November 11, 2004 (63 km NW of Maubara, Timor Leste).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.6 on October 17 (51 km N of Pante Makasar, Timor Leste).
What the record holds
It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 34 deaths for it. 4 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 73 in all. NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began in or off Timor-Leste. The highest water NOAA records here was 4 m, on May 14, 1995. The deadliest, on May 14, 1995, killed 11 people here by NOAA’s runup records.
The events
- December 29, 2021Earthquake · M 7.3125 km NNE of Lospalos, Timor LesteUSGS
- November 11, 2004Earthquake · M 7.563 km NW of Maubara, Timor Leste · 34 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 14, 1995Earthquake · M 6.927 km NNW of Maubara, Timor Leste · 11 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 14, 1995Tsunami · 4 m hereTimor Sea · 11 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 4, 1991Earthquake · M 6.981 km NW of Maubara, Timor Leste · 28 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 26, 1930Earthquake · M 6.984 km N of Metinaro, Timor LesteUSGS
Good to know
- An event counts for Timor-Leste 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 Timor-Leste 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 Timor-Leste, 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