December 1657 Earthquake: Banda Sea, Indonesia
An earthquake struck Banda Sea, Indonesia in December 1657. It caused a tsunami.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- December 1657
- Place
- Banda Sea, Indonesia
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 3.000° S, 128.000° E
- Country
- Indonesia
- Region
- Central and South Pacific
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this earthquake.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Reference #414:
1657 (or 1659), December. there was an earthquake on the islands of Buru and Ambon and in many other places. Mountains collapsed.
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #414 Soloviev, S.L., and Ch.N. Go (1974). A catalogue of tsunamis on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean [dates include 173-1968. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Nauka Publishing House, Moscow, 439 p. [Canadian Translation of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences no. 5077, 1984, translation available from Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, National Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A OS2, 447 p.]
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- September 29, 1899, Banda Sea, Indonesia
- February 17, 1674, Ambon Island, Seram Island, Indonesia
- September 25, 2019, Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia
- August 18, 1754, Ambon Island, Indonesia
- March 14, 2006, Seram, Indonesia
- November 12, 2019, Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia
- September 5, 1711, Banda Sea, Indonesia
- October 10, 2019, Passo, Indonesia
- October 31, 2017, Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia
- October 8, 1950, Seram, Indonesia
- January 16, 2016, Buru, Ambalau Island, Maluku, Indonesia
- October 8, 1994, Halmahera, Indonesia
- July 12, 1673, Banda Sea, Indonesia
- November 18, 1892, Seram Island, Indonesia
- March 30, 1903, Tifu, Masarete, Kajeli, Indonesia
More
Significant earthquakes of 1657The 1600sRecent earthquakes near here
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 5973.