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Light mag. 4.2 earthquake - Molucca Sea, 87 km north of Ternate, North Maluku, Indonesia, on Sunday, Dec 27, 2020 at 8:36 am (GMT +9)

Light magnitude 4.2 earthquake at 148 km depth

26 Dec 23:45 UTC: First to report: BMKG after 9 minutes.
27 Dec 08:45: Magnitude recalculated from 4.4 to 4.2. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 151.0 to 148.0 km (from 94 to 92 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 1.1 km (0.7 mi) towards N.

Update Sat, 26 Dec 2020, 23:51

Light magnitude 4.4 earthquake 85 km north of Ternate, Indonesia

4.4 quake 27 Dec 8:36 am (GMT +9)

Just 15 minutes ago, a 4.4-magnitude earthquake struck near Ternate, North Maluku, Indonesia. The tremor was recorded in the morning on Sunday 27 December 2020 at 8:36 am local time, at an intermediate to considerable depth of 151 km below the surface.
The event was filed by Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), the first seismological agency to report it.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) which listed the quake at magnitude 4.4 as well.
Towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Tobelo (pop. 10,000) located 85 km from the epicenter. In Ternate (pop. 101,700, 85 km away), and Sofifi (pop. 36,200, 96 km away), the quake was probably not felt.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.

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Earthquake details

Date & time	Dec 26, 2020 23:36:21 UTC
Local time at epicenter	Sunday, Dec 27, 2020 at 8:36 am (GMT +9)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	4.2
Depth	148.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	1.56°N / 127.27°E (Molucca Sea, Indonesia)
Antipode	1.56°S / 52.73°W
Shaking intensity	Very weak shaking
Felt	0 reports
Primary data source	BMKG (Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia)
Nearest volcano	Gamkonora (34 km / 21 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	84 km (52 mi) WSW of Tobelo (Kabupaten Halmahera Utara) (pop: 10,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 87 km (54 mi) N of Ternate (pop: 101,700) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 97 km (60 mi) NNW of Sofifi (Kota Tidore Kepulauan) (pop: 36,200) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 232 km (144 mi) E of Bitung (pop: 137,400) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 255 km (159 mi) E of Laikit, Laikit II (Dimembe) (Kabupaten Minahasa Utara) (pop: 8,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 264 km (164 mi) E of Tondano (Kabupaten Minahasa) (pop: 33,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 269 km (167 mi) E of Manado (pop: 451,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 276 km (171 mi) E of Tomohon (pop: 27,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Overcast Clouds 27.8°C (82 F), humidity: 74%, wind: 2 m/s (4 kts) from SSW
Estimated seismic energy released	1.3 x 10¹¹ joules (35 megawatt hours, equivalent to 30.1 tons of TNT) \| about seismic energy

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Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies

Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.

Mag.	Depth	Location	Source
4.2	148 km	Halmahera, Indonesia	BMKG
4.4	151 km	HALMAHERA, INDONESIA	EMSC

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Seismograms

Seismic station: Davao, Philippines (DAV/IU network) | Distance from quake: 641 km / 398 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Davao, Philippines: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.2-5.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

User reports for this quake

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.

There are no user reports for this quake.

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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