Shallow M5.1 Earthquake hit in the Flores Sea near Ruteng (Indonesia) on Saturday Evening.

Written by Earthquakelist.org on September 19th, 2026. Last updated September 20th, 2026.

A shallow and significant Magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck in the Flores Sea 67 kilometer from Ruteng, Indonesia in the evening of Saturday September 19th, 2026.

Felt the earthquake? Share this article:

Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Flores Sea, right off the coast of Indonesia (12 mi offshore), 67 kilometer north-east of Ruteng in East Nusa Tenggara. The center of this earthquake had a very shallow depth of 10 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Sep 19, 2026 21:56 (Makassar Time) - Sep 19, 2026 13:56 Universal Time.
Location:	67 km NE of Ruteng, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Coordinates 8°10'0"S 120°52'55"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.1 Detected by 74 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.066 .
Depth:	10 km (6 mi) A very 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 67 kilometer (42 mi) north-east of the epicenter of this earthquake, Ruteng (East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia) is the nearest significant population center.

A complete list of nearby places is included below.

Overview of nearby places

11 Aftershocks detected

After this earthquake struck, 11 smaller aftershocks occurred. Just 7 hrs after this main shock, an earthquake measuring MAG-3.6 was detected 36 km (23 mi) west of this earthquake.

This main shock was prefaced by 46 smaller foreshocks. A 4.7 magnitude earthquake hit 1 day 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.

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.

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 September 8th, 2026, when a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit 60 km (37 mi) further north-east. An even stronger magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck on August 14th, 2026.

In total, 71 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 2 months.

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 20/09/26 09:08 (). 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 us7000tiju
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20260919_0000178
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

Share this article: