Significant M5.7 Earthquake hit in the Indian Ocean near Bengkulu (Indonesia) on Friday Night.

Written by Earthquakelist.org on May 22nd, 2025. Last updated June 16th, 2025.

A significant MAG-5.7 earthquake struck in the Indian Ocean 29 kilometer from Bengkulu, Indonesia in the night of Friday May 23rd, 2025. Shaking may have been felt by a total of 5.5 million people.

Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Indian Ocean, right off the coast of Indonesia (8 mi offshore), 29 kilometer south-southwest of Bengkulu. The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 47 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	May 23, 2025 02:52 (Jakarta Time) - May 22, 2025 19:52 Universal Time.
Location:	29 km SSW of Bengkulu, Indonesia. Coordinates 4°3'10"S 102°12'11"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.7 Detected by 44 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.047 .
Depth:	47 km (29 mi) A quite shallow depth.
Max. Intensity:	VI Strong On the Modified Mercalli Scale.
Tsunami Risk:	Low tsunami risk Earthquakes under MAG-6.5 do not usually cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Minimal impact predicted

The US Geographic Survey (USGS) describes the impact of this earthquake as follows:

One person died of a heart attack, two persons injured; 28 homes destroyed, 358 damaged and 6 buildings damaged in the Bengkulu-Betungan area.

Based on scientific estimates by the USGS, the risk of high fatalities for this earthquake is classified at level GREEN (low). They expect an 65% likelyhood of between 0 and 1 fatalities, and a 96% chance that the number of fatalities falls no higher than 10.

The USGS classifies the economic impact of this earthquake at level GREEN (low). They expect an 100% likelyhood of between 0 and 1 million US Dollars in economic damage and impact.

Roughly 5.5 million people exposed to shaking

The USGS has published a report estimating the number of people exposed to this earthquake. Acoording to their analysis, roughly 5.5 million have been exposed to shaking at an MMI level of II or higher.

An estimated 201,000 people were exposed to level VI. At this level, strong shaking and probably light damage can be expected. The majority of people (roughly 4 million) live in an area exposed to level IV, where light shaking and likely no damage is expected. All exposure to shaking was within the borders of Indonesia .

People	MMI Level	Shaking	Damage
0	I	Not noticable	None
0	II	Very weak	None
760,700	III	Weak	Probably none
3,967,000	IV	Light	Likely none
524,000	V	Moderate	Very light
201,000	VI	Strong	Light
0	VII	Very Strong	Moderate
0	VIII	Severe	Moderate to heavy
0	IX	Violent	Heavy
0	X	Extreme	Very heavy

Nearby towns and cities

This earthquake may have been felt in Indonesia . The closest significant population center near the earthquake is Bengkulu in Bengkulu, Indonesia. Bengkulu is located 29 kilometer (18 mi) south-southwest of the epicenter. The intensity of shaking and damage in Bengkulu is estimated to be around level VI on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale (strong shaking, probably light damage).

Multiple major population centers exist within 300km of the earthquake that struck today. Bengkulu is located 29 km to the north-northeast and experienced an intensity of VI (strong shaking, probably light damage). Lubuklinggau is located 112 km to the north-east and experienced an intensity of IV (light shaking, likely no damage). Baturaja is located 218 km to the east (intensity unknown, possibly low).

A complete list of nearby places is included below. Estimated intensity data (MMI) sourced from a shake-map published by the US Geographic Survey is shown where available (cities without data probably experienced little impact).

Overview of nearby places

Cities and Towns around the epicenter of this earthquake.
Distance	Place	Intensity (MMI)
29 km (18 mi) NNE from epicenter	Bengkulu Bengkulu, Indonesia.	VI Strong
74 km (46 mi) NNE from epicenter	Curup Bengkulu, Indonesia.	IV Light
112 km (70 mi) NE from epicenter	Lubuklinggau South Sumatra, Indonesia.	IV Light
116 km (72 mi) E from epicenter	Pagar Alam South Sumatra, Indonesia.	IV Light
152 km (94 mi) ENE from epicenter	Lahat South Sumatra, Indonesia.	IV Light
178 km (111 mi) E from epicenter	Tanjungagung South Sumatra, Indonesia.	III Weak
218 km (135 mi) E from epicenter	Baturaja South Sumatra, Indonesia.
235 km (146 mi) ENE from epicenter	Prabumulih South Sumatra, Indonesia.
240 km (149 mi) NNW from epicenter	Sungai Penuh Jambi, Indonesia.

Earthquake Intensity Map

The maximum intensity (MMI Scale) caused by this earthquake is VI. The map below shows in which areas this earthquake was the most and least impactful. It is based on data from the US Geographic Survey.

I Not felt

II Weak

III Weak

IV Light

V Moderate

VI Strong

VII Very Strong

VIII Severe

IX Violent

X Extreme

Earthquake Intensity Map based on Shakemap Data provided by USGS.

Shaking reported by 11 people

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 11 people have reported shaking in 3 places, all within Indonesia.We keep updating this article as more ground reports become available. You may report that you felt this earthquake here.

Places with most reports:

Bengkulu, Bengkulu, Indonesia: 9 people.
Curup, Bengkulu, Indonesia: 1 person.
Palembang, Sumatera Selatan, Indonesia: 1 person.

2 Aftershocks detected

After this earthquake struck, 2 smaller aftershocks occurred. A 2.9 magnitude earthquake hit 2 days later 81 km (50 mi) northwest of this earthquake.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

Detected MAG2.5+ earthquakes within within 100km (62 mi), that occurred in the three days before and after the main shock.
Classification	Magnitude	When	Where
Main Shock This Earthquake	M 5.7	May 23, 2025 02:52 (Jakarta Time)	-
Aftershock	M 2.7	2 days later May 25, 2025 02:34 (Jakarta Time)	33 km (21 mi) SSW from Main Shock.
Aftershock	M 2.9	2 days later May 25, 2025 09:20 (Jakarta Time)	81 km (50 mi) NW from Main Shock.

More earthquakes coming?

The risk of aftershocks decreases rapidly over time. Usually, aftershocks are at least one order of magnitude lower than a main shock.

In only six percent of cases, significant earthquakes are followed by a larger main shock, making the current earthquake a foreshock. While the chance of this happening is not so large, it is adviced to maintain cautiousness in the hours and days following a major earthquake.

Read: How to Stay Safe during an Earthquake (cdc.gov).

This is the strongest earthquake in 3 years

Earthquakes of this strength are very common in the region. This is the strongest earthquake to hit since November 18th, 2022, when a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit 183 km (114 mi) further west-southwest. That was also the heaviest earthquake to hit the region in the past 10 years.

In total, 13 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.7 or higher have been registered within 300km (186 mi) of this epicenter in the past 10 years. This comes down to an average of once every 9 months.

Low tsunami risk

DISCLAIMER: We strongly suggest to closely monitor advice from local authorities with regards to tsunami risks. Our analysis is based on automatically collected data from external sources, and these might contain mistakes. In addition, earthquakes can cause landslides that may lead to a tsunami, or be a followed by another, potentially stonger, earthquake.

Based on early data it appears this earthquake was not strong enough (lower than MAG-6.5) to be likely to cause destructive tsunami's. However this earthquake appeared to have hit at a shallow depth under sea, so stay cautious and monitor advice from local authorities.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Factor	Under Sea?	MAG-6.5 or stronger?	Shallow depth?
Explanation	Almost all tsunami's are caused by earthquakes with their epicenter under sea or very near the sea. However stay cautious in coastal areas as earthquakes on land may cause landslides into sea, potentially still causing a local tsunami.	Under MAG 6.5: Very unlikely to cause a tsunami. MAG 6.5 to 7.5: Destructive tsunami's do occur, but are uncommon. Likely to observe small sea level changes. MAG 7.6+: Earthquakes with these magnitudes might produce destructive tsunami's.	Most destructive tsunami's are caused by shallow earthquakes with a depth between 0 and 100km under the surface of the earth. Deeper tsunami's are unlikely to displace to ocean floor.
This Earthquake	This earthquake appears to have struck under the sea.	Not this earthquake. This earthquake had a magnitude of 5.7. Earthquakes of this strength are unlikely to trigger a tsunami.	This earthquake occurred at a depth of of 47 km (29 mi). Earthquakes this shallow could trigger a tsunami.

Sources

Last updated 16/06/25 22:38 (). As more information on this earthquake becomes available this article will be updated. This article is automatically composed based on data originating from multiple sources.