M4.6 earthquake Banda Sea
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck in the Banda Sea on Sat, Dec 12, 1981, 8:19 AM GMT+8 (00:19 UTC), 175 km (108 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.3 275 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
- 4.6 (mb, body-wave), light
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 1981-12-12 00:19:03 UTC
- Depth
- 174.5 km (108.4 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 6.998° S, 129.618° 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.
- Depth from
- FROM_LOCATION
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.6 and up: 6 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.2Kepulauan Babar, Indonesia · 16362 days ago · 217 km deep · 14 km away
- 5.0Banda Sea · 16353 days ago · 151 km deep · 81 km away
- 5.3275 km ENE of Lospalos, Timor Leste · 16350 days ago · 157 km deep · 60 km away
- 4.6Banda Sea · 16348 days ago · 127 km deep · 43 km away
- 4.4Kepulauan Babar, Indonesia · 16315 days ago · 163 km deep · 36 km away
- 4.8Banda Sea · 16315 days ago · 144 km deep · 28 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0001hc9. Read Thu, Oct 1, 2026, 11:35 AM UTC.