M5.1 earthquake Banda Sea
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck in the Banda Sea on Tue, Feb 10, 1981, 2:04 AM GMT+9 (17:04 UTC), 126 km (78 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.4 299 km ENE of Lospalos, Timor Leste. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.1 (mb), moderate
- Local time
- UTC
- 1981-02-09 17:04:05 UTC
- Depth
- 126.2 km (78.4 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 6.754° S, 129.867° E
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.1 and up: 5 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.0283 km WSW of Tual, Indonesia · 16650 days ago · 117 km deep · 68 km away
- 5.4299 km ENE of Lospalos, Timor Leste · 16638 days ago · 135 km deep · 76 km away
- 4.6283 km WSW of Tual, Indonesia · 16634 days ago · 145 km deep · 59 km away
- 4.9291 km ENE of Lospalos, Timor Leste · 16614 days ago · 108 km deep · 85 km away
- 5.1286 km WSW of Tual, Indonesia · 16607 days ago · 152 km deep · 70 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0001c3d. Read Tue, Sep 22, 2026, 9:25 PM UTC.