Information on the earthquake: moderate mag. 4.8 earthquake
Moderate magnitude earthquake 4.8 to 14 km deep
21 Sep 00:05 UTC: First to report: BMKG after 8 minutes.
Updated Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 12:09 AM
Moderate magnitude earthquake 4.8 97 km northeast of Bitung, Indonesia
Earthquake 4.8 September 21 08:56 (GMT +9)
The event was recorded by the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency, the first seismological agency to report it.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) which also listed the earthquake at a magnitude of 4.8.
Cities near the epicenter where the earthquake could have been felt as very weak tremors include Bitung (pop. 137,400) located 97 km from the epicenter, and Laikit, Laikit II (Dimembe) (pop. 8,000) 118 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update the magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant earthquake news becomes available. If you are in the region, please share your experience with us through our reporting mechanism, online or through our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone in the world who is interested in learning more about this earthquake.
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Earthquake data
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Date and hour : 20 Sep 2021 23:56:57 UTC –
Local time at epicenter: Tuesday Sep 21, 2021 8:56 am (GMT +9)
Magnitude: 4.8
Depth: 14.0 km
Latitude / longitude of epicenter: 1.81 ° N / 125.99 ° E↗ 
(Moluccan Sea, Indonesia)
Antipode: 1.81 ° S / 54.01 ° W↗
Nearest volcano: Ruang (82 km / 51 mi)
Nearby towns and villages:
97 km (60 mi) ENE of Bitung (pop: 137,400) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
118 km (74 mi) ENE of Laikit, Laikit II (Dimembé) (Kabupaten Minahasa Utara) (pop: 8,000) -> See earthquakes nearby!
132 km (82 mi) ENE of Manado (pop: 451,900) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
132 km (82 mi) ENE of Tondano (Kabupaten Minahasa) (pop: 33,300) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
143 km (89 mi) ENE of Tomohon (pop: 27,600) -> See earthquakes nearby!
192 km (119 mi) northwest of Ternate (pop: 101,700) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
211 km (131 mi) northwest of Sofifi (Kota Tidore Kepulauan) (pop: 36,200) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
225 km (140 mi) west of Tobelo (Kabupaten Halmahera Utara) (pop: 10,000) -> Watch the earthquakes nearby!
355 km (221 mi) ENE of Gorontalo (pop: 144,200) -> See nearby earthquakes!
470 km (292 mi) northeast of Luwuk (pop: 47,800) -> Observe the earthquakes nearby!
Broken clouds
26.8 ° C (80 F), humidity: 81%, wind: 3 m / s (7 kts) from SMain data source: BMKG (Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia)
Estimated energy released: 1×1012 joules (278 megawatt hours, equivalent to 239 tonnes of TNT) Find out more
If you did NOT feel the earthquake although you are in the area, please report it! Your contribution is valuable to earthquake science, seismic risk analysis and mitigation efforts. You can use your device’s location or the map to show where you were during the earthquake. Thank you!
Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies
Info: The more agencies report the same earthquake and publish similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It normally takes up to a few hours for the seismic parameters to be calculated with near optimum accuracy.
| Mag. | Depth | Site | Source |
| 4.8 | 14 km | Indonesia: North Moluccas Sea | BMKG |
| 4.9 | 53 km | Indonesia: SEA OF MOLUCKS | EMSC |
| 4.9 | 53 km | 108 Km ENE from Laikit, Laikit II (Dimembe), Indonesia | USGS |
Previous earthquakes in the same region
Click here to search our database for previous earthquakes in the same area since 1900!