M5.4 earthquake 164 km N of Tobelo, Indonesia
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 164 km N of Tobelo, Indonesia on Mon, Aug 20, 1979, 1:00 AM GMT+9 (16:00 UTC), 115 km (71 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.9 194 km N of Tobelo, Indonesia. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.4 (mb, body-wave), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 1979-08-19 16:00:12 UTC
- Depth
- 115.0 km (71.5 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 3.213° N, 128.099° E
- Region
- Indonesia
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Magnitude estimates
Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.4 | mb, body-wave | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.57 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.6 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
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
- 132
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.4 and up: 4 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.6162 km N of Tobelo, Indonesia · 17199 days ago · 91 km deep · 18 km away
- 5.9194 km N of Tobelo, Indonesia · 17185 days ago · 45 km deep · 31 km away
- 4.8173 km N of Tobelo, Indonesia · 17184 days ago · 33 km deep · 13 km away
- 4.5115 km NNE of Tobelo, Indonesia · 17159 days ago · 33 km deep · 67 km away
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Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp00012h7 (also filed as gcmtb081979b, gcmt19790819160012, iscgem660618). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC.