EARTHQUAKEM4.5

M4.5 earthquake near Abepura, Indonesia

Map: the earthquake near Abepura, Indonesia, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 142 km (88 mi) south-southwest of Abepura, Indonesia on Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at 13:27 UTC, at a depth of 10 km (6 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Shallow quakes like this one shake the surface hardest.

MagnitudeM4.5
Depth10 km (6 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 20 13:27
Location3.71°S 140.00°E
Nearest townAbepura · 142 km
Energy85 tons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+0
Tsunami flagNo
See it on the live 3D globe →Watch live on YouTube🔔 Get alerts near you

Why here?

This earthquake struck about 265 km (165 mi) from the nearest major plate boundary, which makes it an intraplate earthquake. These happen on old faults inside a plate, where stress from the plate’s slow movement is released. They are less common, but can surprise areas that rarely feel quakes.

The red lines on the map are plate boundaries.

How strong was it?

Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step releases about 32 times more energy. This magnitude 4.5 released roughly the energy of 85 tons of TNT. That is about 5.6 times the energy of a magnitude 4.0, a quake people nearby feel but that rarely causes damage. The strongest earthquake ever recorded, magnitude 9.5 in Chile in 1960, released about 32,000,000 times more than this one.

Aftershocks

In the first 6 days after it, USGS recorded no smaller earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 100 km (62 mi).

Outside the United States, USGS mainly lists quakes of about magnitude 4 and up, so smaller aftershocks there are undercounted.

Earthquake history here

Before this earthquake, USGS had recorded 109 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger within 300 km (186 mi) since 1900. The strongest:

Official details, updates and the shaking map: USGS event page.

See every earthquake on October 20, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

More from around the world