M6.1 earthquake 268 km NE of Lospalos, Timor Leste
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck 268 km NE of Lospalos, Timor Leste on Sat, Oct 17, 1981, 2:44 PM GMT+8 (06:44 UTC), 179 km (111 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 6.1 (mb, body-wave), strong
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 1981-10-17 06:44:55 UTC
- Depth
- 179.0 km (111.2 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 7.101° S, 128.974° E
- Region
- Timor Leste
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.1 | mb, body-wave | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed · 31 stations |
| 6.4 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 6.4 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
CENTROID, MOMENT TENSOR SOLUTION HARVARD EVENT-FILE NAME B101781A DATA USED: GDSN L.P. BODY WAVES: 15S, 43C, T=45 CENTROID LOCATION: ORIGIN TIME 6:44:57.6 0.4 LAT 7.22S 0.03;LON 128.78E 0.04 DEP 185.8 1.4;HALF-DURATION 5.0 MOMENT TENSOR; SCALE 10**25 D-CM MRR=2.43 0.14; MTT=-4.21 0.18 MFF=1.77 0.19; MRT=0.40 0.14 MRF=2.94 0.15; MTF=-1.21 0.17 PRINCIPAL AXES: 1.(T) VAL=5.09;PLG=47;AZM=265 2.(N) -0.49; 41; 67 3.(P) -4.60; 9; 165 BEST DOUBLE COUPLE:M0=4.9*10**25 NP1:STRIKE=292;DIP=51;SLIP=148 NP2:Strike=44;Dip=66;Slip=44
From the USGS event page for usp0001ggu. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
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
- CONSTRAINED_BY_DEPTH_PHASES
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 3.1 and up: 9 in the 60 days after this one and 4 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.3297 km ENE of Lospalos, Timor Leste · 16420 days ago · 230 km deep · 48 km away
- 4.1Banda Sea · 16409 days ago · 156 km deep · 73 km away
- 5.4212 km NE of Lospalos, Timor Leste · 16408 days ago · 169 km deep · 56 km away
- 4.5Kepulauan Babar, Indonesia · 16401 days ago · 148 km deep · 83 km away
- 4.5294 km ENE of Lospalos, Timor Leste · 16388 days ago · 194 km deep · 41 km away
- 5.7233 km ENE of Lospalos, Timor Leste · 16376 days ago · 133 km deep · 40 km away
- 4.5230 km NE of Lospalos, Timor Leste · 16367 days ago · 293 km deep · 59 km away
- 4.6Banda Sea · 16367 days ago · 175 km deep · 72 km away
- 4.2Kepulauan Babar, Indonesia · 16364 days ago · 217 km deep · 66 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTimor Leste earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0001ggu (also filed as gcmtb101781a, gcmt19811017064453, iscgem610052). Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 12:27 PM UTC.