On Thursday Afternoon a Significant M5.1 Earthquake struck in the Sulawesi Sea near General Santos (The Philippines).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on June 18th, 2026. Last updated July 10th, 2026.

A significant Magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck in the Sulawesi Sea 42 kilometer from General Santos, The Philippines in the afternoon of Thursday June 18th, 2026.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Sulawesi Sea, right off the coast of The Philippines (1 mi offshore), 42 kilometer south of General Santos in Soccsksargen. The center of this earthquake had an intermediate depth of 91 km.

Date and Time:	Jun 18, 2026 02:57PM (Manila Time) - Jun 18, 2026 06:57 Universal Time.
Location:	42 km south of General Santos, Soccsksargen, The Philippines. Coordinates 5°44'10"N 125°12'5"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.1 Detected by 12 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.089 .
Depth:	91 km (57 mi) An intermediate 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 The Philippines . Located 10 kilometer (6 mi) south of the epicenter of this earthquake, Glan (Soccsksargen, The Philippines) is the nearest significant population center.

Multiple large cities are in proximity of today's earthquake. General Santos is located 42 km to the north. Davao is located 155 km to the north. Budta is located 184 km to the northwest.

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

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 3 people in 2 countries

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 3 people have reported shaking in 3 places in 2 countries (Philippines, 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:

• Canocotan, Southern Mindanao, Philippines: 1 person.
• Davao, Southern Mindanao, Philippines: 1 person.
• Manado, Sulawesi Utara, Indonesia: 1 person.

121 Aftershocks detected

After this earthquake struck, 121 smaller aftershocks occurred. At a distance of 77 km (48 mi) south of this earthquake, an aftershock struck 4 days later. It measured a magnitude of 4.9

This main shock was prefaced by 117 smaller foreshocks. A 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit 3 days earlier nearby.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

Aftershocks are usually at least 1 order of magnitude less strong than main shocks. The more time passes, the smaller the chance and likely strength of any potential aftershocks.

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 June 15th, 2026, when a 5.5 magnitude earthquake hit 8 km (5 mi) further south-east. An even stronger magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck on June 7th, 2026.

In total, 218 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 17 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 10/07/26 01:08 (). 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.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us7000su9f
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20260618_0000098
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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