Indonesia Earthquake Today: A Market Run, a School Pickup, and a Coast Waiting for the All-Clear
On Thursday morning, indonesia earthquake today jolted homes, markets, and schoolyards across parts of eastern Indonesia, turning routine errands into urgent choices as a magnitude 7. 4 quake off Ternate island killed one person, injured another, damaged buildings, and triggered a tsunami warning that was later lifted.
What happened in Indonesia Earthquake Today, and where did it hit?
The earthquake struck in the Molucca Sea off Indonesia’s Ternate island at 6: 48am local time, with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) placing the depth at 35km and the epicentre west-north-west of Ternate. The quake was initially recorded at magnitude 7. 8 before being listed at 7. 4.
In North Sulawesi, a 70-year-old woman died in Minahasa district, and another resident was injured. Elsewhere, damage checks began in multiple locations: Indonesia’s disaster management agency, Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB), described initial assessments in parts of Ternate as “minor to moderate, ” including damage to a church in the Batang Dua Island district and two houses in South Ternate. In Bitung, BNPB said efforts to assess damage were ongoing. Images also showed damage at a sports complex in North Sumatra, with wall panels and metal bars scattered outside.
How did residents experience the shaking, and what did they do?
In Bitung, on the north-eastern edge of Sulawesi, BNPB said strong shaking lasted 10 to 20 seconds in the city and surrounding areas. For people already living with frequent tremors, this one felt different.
Yayuk Oktiani, a resident of Bitung, said she was at the market when “everything started shaking, ” describing power outages in several stores as people fled when the tremors strengthened. She headed directly to her child’s school, which she said is located “very close” to the sea. “The situation there was chaotic, ” Oktiani said. “The teachers immediately told parents to bring their children home, even though they had only just arrived. ”
In Manado, North Sulawesi, journalist Isvara Safitri recalled the physical immediacy of the movement: furniture shook for several seconds, she said, and the force left her dizzy. “It was really strong… My head even felt dizzy, ” Safitri said. She added that even the roads outside her house were shaking.
An Agence France-Presse journalist in Manado described being woken by the quake and seeing people rush outdoors. “I immediately woke up and left my house. People [were] immediately scrambling outside, ” he said, adding that pupils at a nearby school ran outside. He said the shaking persisted for “quite long, ” though he did not witness “significant damage. ”
In Ternate, resident Budi Nurgianto said the walls of his house vibrated for what felt like more than a minute. He ran outside into what he described as panic. “There were many people outside… I even saw some people leaving their house without having finished their shower, ” he said.
Was there a tsunami, and what did authorities tell people to do?
In the hours after the quake, the coastline became the focus of fear and instruction. The US tsunami warning system initially warned of the risk of hazardous waves within 1, 000km of the epicentre, including along the coasts of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia, and said waves reaching 0. 3 metres to 1 metre above tide level were possible for some of the Indonesian coastline. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center also warned that tsunami waves were possible and later lifted the alert just over two hours after the tremor, saying the threat had passed.
Indonesia’s meteorology agency, Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika (BMKG), said tsunami waves were recorded in five locations, with the highest reaching 0. 75m in North Minahasa in North Sulawesi province. Waves were also recorded in other places, including Bitung.
Even after the warning was lifted, officials urged restraint near the waterline. A BNPB spokesperson said caution remained necessary, “particularly for communities living along the coast, ” and told residents to refrain from returning to beaches or coastal areas until authorities confirmed it was safe to do so.
Outside Indonesia, Japan’s meteorological agency said “slight sea level changes” might occur along Japan’s coast but added that no tsunami damage was expected. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology and Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology later confirmed there was no tsunami threat to their territories.
What comes next: aftershocks, damage checks, and vigilance
After the first jolt, the day shifted into a familiar rhythm for earthquake response: counting aftershocks, inspecting buildings, and waiting for clearer guidance. BMKG said 11 aftershocks were monitored, the largest at magnitude 5. 5. Authorities warned more could come, while assessments continued in affected areas.
The national geological agency reported “damage to buildings and injuries” about an hour after the initial tremor, without providing more detail. In North Sulawesi, a local search and rescue official, George Leo Mercy Randang, said one person died and another suffered a leg injury, adding that the victim was “buried under the rubble” of a collapsed building.
For residents, the emergency was not only about the first shock but about what followed: uncertainty about the strength of the next tremor, whether schools would remain open, and whether a coastline that looked calm could still pose danger. Indonesia earthquake today left behind a stark contrast—streets that emptied in seconds and then filled again with people searching for family, checking walls for cracks, and looking toward the sea for reassurance that the warning would not return.
Image caption (alt text): Residents gather outdoors after indonesia earthquake today, as authorities assess building damage and coastal communities await safety guidance.
