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M5.6 earthquake Banda Sea

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck in the Banda Sea on Tue, Dec 25, 1979, 8:32 PM GMT+9 (11:32 UTC), 209 km (130 mi) below the surface.

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The earthquake

Magnitude
5.6 (mb), moderate
Local time
UTC
1979-12-25 11:32:50 UTC
Depth
209.0 km (129.9 mi), intermediate-depth
Epicenter
6.495° S, 129.367° E
Tsunami flag
No
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Stations used
54

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 2.6 and up: 5 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.

After

  1. 4.9275 km ENE of Lospalos, Timor Leste · 17076 days ago · 131 km deep · 97 km away
  2. 5.2Banda Sea · 17070 days ago · 93 km deep · 56 km away
  3. 5.5Kepulauan Babar, Indonesia · 17055 days ago · 110 km deep · 63 km away
  4. 5.3Banda Sea · 17039 days ago · 202 km deep · 38 km away
  5. 5.2Kepulauan Babar, Indonesia · 17021 days ago · 91 km deep · 66 km away

Before

  1. 5.8Banda Sea · 17081 days ago · 131 km deep · 49 km away
  2. 5.1Banda Sea · 17108 days ago · 155 km deep · 58 km away

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Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp00014pp (also filed as gcmtb122579d, gcmt19791225113250, iscgem654650). Read Wed, Sep 30, 2026, 12:19 PM UTC.