On Friday Afternoon a Significant M5.3 Earthquake struck in the Maluku Sea 165km from Manado (Indonesia).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on April 24th, 2026. Last updated May 16th, 2026.

A significant M5.3 earthquake struck in the Maluku Sea 165 kilometer from Manado, Indonesia in the early afternoon of Friday April 24th, 2026.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Maluku Sea, 124 kilometers (77 mi) off the coast of Indonesia, 165 kilometer east of Manado in North Sulawesi. The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 55 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Apr 24, 2026 13:45 (Jayapura Time) - Apr 24, 2026 04:45 Universal Time.
Location:	165 km east of Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Coordinates 1°3'56"N 126°16'38"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.3 Detected by 137 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.05 .
Depth:	55 km (34 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 . Located 127 kilometer (79 mi) west of the epicenter of this earthquake, Ternate (North Maluku, Indonesia) is the nearest significant population center.

An overview of nearby towns and cities is available in the overview below.

Overview of nearby places

38 Aftershocks detected

After this earthquake struck, 38 smaller aftershocks occurred. At a distance of 30 km (19 mi) northwest of this earthquake, an aftershock struck 24 hrs later. It measured a magnitude of 4.6

This main shock was prefaced by 49 smaller foreshocks. A 4.6 magnitude earthquake hit 3 days earlier nearby.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

Earthquakes can create aftershocks. These are generally at least 1 magnitude lower than any main shock, and as time passes the chance and strength of aftershocks decreases.

It's always adviced to be cautious of the risk of a larger shock following any significant earthquake, however this risk is fairly small. There is a roughly 94 percent change that no larger main shock will follow in the days following this earthquake.

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 4th, 2026, when a 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit 23 km (14 mi) further west. An even stronger magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck on April 1st, 2026.

In total, 150 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.3 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 24 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 16/05/26 07:28 (). 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 us6000sshk
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20260424_0000083
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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