On Sunday Afternoon a Shallow M5.2 Earthquake struck in the Flores Sea near Labuan Bajo (Indonesia).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on October 18th, 2026.

In the late afternoon of Sunday October 18th, 2026, a shallow and significant MAG-5.2 earthquake hit in the Flores Sea 58 kilometer from Labuan Bajo, Indonesia.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Flores Sea, right off the coast of Indonesia (9 mi offshore), 58 kilometer north-east of Labuan Bajo 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:	Oct 18, 2026 16:00 (Makassar Time) - Oct 18, 2026 08:00 Universal Time.
Location:	58 km NE of Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Coordinates 8°8'42"S 120°16'24"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.2 Detected by 45 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.086 .
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 . Ruteng in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia is the nearest significant place from the epicenter. The earthquake occurred 56 kilometer (35 mi) northwest of Ruteng.

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

Overview of nearby places

6 Aftershocks detected

This main shock was followed by 6 smaller aftershocks. Just 3 mins after this main shock, an earthquake measuring MAG-4.2 was detected 4 km (2.4 mi) south of this earthquake.

This main shock was prefaced by 35 smaller foreshocks. Nearby this earthquake a foreshock struck 1 day earlier. It measured a magnitude of 4.5

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 October 3rd, 2026, when a 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit 218 km (135 mi) further southwest. An even stronger magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck on August 14th, 2026.

In total, 54 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 18/10/26 22:08 (). 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 us6000u34e
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20261018_0000088
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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