May 21, 1979 Earthquake: Bali, Indonesia

Date

May 21, 1979

Time

16:31:05 UTC

Place

Bali, Indonesia

Magnitude

5.4 (Ms)

Focal depth

43 km (27 mi)

Tsunami

None recorded

Epicenter

8.299° S, 115.934° E

Country

Indonesia

Damage

Severe (about $5 to $25 million)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

• November 22, 1815, Bali, IndonesiaM7.3 · 11,453 deaths · 116 km
• January 20, 1917, Bali, IndonesiaM6.6 · 1,500 deaths · 145 km
• July 14, 1976, Bali, IndonesiaM6.5 · 573 deaths · $195 million · 116 km
• August 5, 2018, Lombok Island, IndonesiaM6.9 · 560 deaths · $509 million · 56 km
• May 13, 1857, Dilhi, Gera, Timor Island, IndonesiaM7 · 36 deaths · 58 km
• December 17, 1979, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa Island, IndonesiaM6.3 · 27 deaths · 11 km
• May 30, 1979, Sumbawa Island, IndonesiaM5.8 · 22 deaths · $4.2 million · 10 km
• July 28, 2018, Lombok Island, IndonesiaM6.4 · 17 deaths · 5,448 houses destroyed · 64 km
• August 19, 2018, Lombok Island, IndonesiaM6.9 · 11 deaths · 76 km
• August 9, 2018, Lombok Island, IndonesiaM5.9 · 6 deaths · 33 km
• March 17, 2019, Lombok Island, IndonesiaM5.6 · 6 deaths · 843 houses destroyed · 66 km
• October 10, 2018, Madura Island, Java, IndonesiaM6 · 4 deaths · 188 km
• October 15, 2021, Karangasem, Bangli, Bali, IndonesiaM5.1 · 3 deaths · 366 houses destroyed · 53 km
• October 20, 1979, Sumbawa Island, IndonesiaM6.2 · 2 deaths · 11 km
• August 19, 2018, Lombok Island, IndonesiaM6.3 · 2 deaths · 73 km

Significant earthquakes of 1979The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1979Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

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 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 4832.