On Saturday Morning a Significant M5.1 Earthquake struck in the Maluku Sea 166km from Manado (Indonesia).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on April 17th, 2026. Last updated April 19th, 2026.

In the Maluku Sea 166 kilometer from Manado, Indonesia, a significant M5.1 earthquake occurred in the morning of Saturday April 18th, 2026.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Maluku Sea, 120 kilometers (75 mi) off the coast of Indonesia, 166 kilometer east of Manado in North Sulawesi. The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 35 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Apr 18, 2026 08:29 (Jayapura Time) - Apr 17, 2026 23:29 Universal Time.
Location:	166 km east of Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Coordinates 1°12'26"N 126°19'13"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.1 Detected by 113 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.054 .
Depth:	35 km (22 mi) A quite shallow depth.
Tsunami Risk:	Low tsunami risk Earthquakes under MAG-6.5 do not usually cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Nearby towns and cities

This earthquake may have been felt in Indonesia . Ternate in North Maluku, Indonesia is the nearest significant place from the epicenter. The earthquake occurred 127 kilometer (79 mi) west of Ternate.

The table below provides an overview of all places in proximity of today's earthquake.

Overview of nearby places

25 Aftershocks detected

After this earthquake struck, 25 smaller aftershocks occurred. At a distance of 27 km (17 mi) west of this earthquake, an aftershock struck 3 hrs later. It measured a magnitude of 4.7

In the days before this main shock, 72 smaller foreshocks were detected. A 4.7 magnitude earthquake hit 13 hrs earlier nearby.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

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.

The chance that a significant earthquake like this one is followed by an even larger earthquake is not so large. On average, scientists estimate a 94% chance that a major earthquake will not be followed by an even larger one. It is still adviced to be aware of this risk

Earthquakes like this happen often in the region

Earthquakes of this strength are very common in the region. This is the strongest earthquake to hit since April 13th, 2026, when a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit 39 km (24 mi) further south-east. An even stronger magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck on April 1st, 2026.

In total, 208 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.1 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 18 days.

Low tsunami risk

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

Sources

Last updated 19/04/26 00:28 (). This article is automatically generated based on available data. We keep checking multiple sources for additional information. This article gets updated as new details on this earthquake become available.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us6000sqzn
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20260417_0000343
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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