On Saturday Evening a Shallow M5.2 Earthquake struck in the Flores Sea near Ruteng (Indonesia).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on September 19th, 2026. Last updated October 15th, 2026.

A shallow and significant MAG-5.2 earthquake struck in the Flores Sea 61 kilometer from Ruteng, Indonesia in the evening of Saturday September 19th, 2026.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Flores Sea, right off the coast of Indonesia (10 mi offshore), 61 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:	61 km NE of Ruteng, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Coordinates 8°11'56"S 120°49'34"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.2 Detected by 75 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 61 kilometer (38 mi) north-east of the epicenter of this earthquake, Ruteng (East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia) is the nearest significant population center.

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

Overview of nearby places

103 Aftershocks detected

Since this main shock, 103 smaller aftershocks were detected. At a distance of 29 km (18 mi) southwest of this earthquake, an aftershock struck 1 day later. It measured a magnitude of 5

Before this earthquake struck, 45 smaller foreshocks occurred. A 4.7 magnitude earthquake hit 1 day 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 August 31st, 2026, when a 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit 29 km (18 mi) further west. An even stronger magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck on August 14th, 2026.

In total, 53 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.2 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 15/10/26 00:48 (). 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 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

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