26 km SW of Pulau Puah

55 minutes ago

BMKG2 SOURCESFELT

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 26 km SW of Pulau Puah on 21 Sept 2026, 07:31 UTC. The hypocentre was 10 km below the surface — shallow by seismological convention. Shaking was reported in Luwuk and Pohuwato Regency. The figures have been revised 2 times since the first report. 8 other earthquakes above our reporting threshold have been recorded within 250 km in the past 30 days.

Depth: 10 km
Latitude: 0.70°S
Time: 07:31 UTC
Magnitude: M5.3

REPORTED SHAKING (MMI SCALE)

IV–VLuwuk, II-III Pohuwato Regencylight to moderate shaking

EPICENTRE

SEA

SHAKEMAP (BMKG)

BMKG shakemap for the M5.3 earthquake near Pulau Puah

View the official report↗

MAGNITUDE 5.3

Can damage poorly constructed buildings; well-built structures usually escape with little harm.

The scale is logarithmic: this released about 89 times the energy of a magnitude 4.0, roughly the energy of 1 thousand tonnes of TNT.

10 KM DEEP

Shallow earthquakes release their energy close to the surface, so they are felt more strongly, and do more damage, than deeper earthquakes of the same magnitude.