Reviewed by USGSIndonesia3mo ago
M4.4 earthquake 79 km SSE of Bitung, Indonesia
Tuesday, June 16, 2026, 05:14:17 UTC · 0.797°N, 125.448°E
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck 79 km SSE of Bitung, Indonesia on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, 05:14:17 UTC, at a depth of 53.6 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.4
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 54 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
60 tons of TNT
That is about 1/251 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 8 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
71 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Molucca Sea and Sunda plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
54 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 50 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 2,350 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.875 km NNW of Gorontalo, IndonesiaApril 18, 1990 · 291 km W of this epicenter
- 7.7148 km SE of Tondano, IndonesiaMay 14, 1932 · 67 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.7121 km E of Bitung, IndonesiaAugust 10, 1968 · 114 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.689 km E of Luwuk, IndonesiaMay 4, 2000 · 297 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.564 km NNW of Ternate, IndonesiaJune 25, 1907 · 202 km E of this epicenter
- 7.5126 km WNW of Ternate, IndonesiaJanuary 21, 2007 · 97 km E of this epicenter
- 7.579 km NNW of Gorontalo, IndonesiaJune 20, 1991 · 299 km W of this epicenter
- 7.5146 km NW of Ternate, IndonesiaAugust 14, 1986 · 163 km NE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 33 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 231 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1845M7.0
N Sulawesi: Menado, Tikala, Tomohon
8 Feb 1845 · 101 km away · intensity IX
118 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 2000M7.6
Sulawesi: Luwuk, Banggai, Peleng,
4 May 2000 · 297 km away
54 deaths$30 million damagetsunami
- 1855
Maluku: Ternate Island
14 Jul 1855 · 206 km away · intensity IX
34 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1994M7.0
Kau
21 Jan 1994 · 255 km away
9 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1932M7.7
Sulawesi: Kakas,Langowan,Poso,Tondano
14 May 1932 · 67 km away · intensity VII
7 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 2007M7.5
Molucca Islands: N
21 Jan 2007 · 97 km away
4 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.