Moderate 4.5 quake hits near Sarmi, Sarmi Regency, Provinsi Papua, Indonesia

A shallow magnitude 4.5 earthquake was reported in the evening near Sarmi, Sarmi Regency, Provinsi Papua, Indonesia.
According to Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency, the quake hit on Friday, July 31st, 2026, at 9:18 pm local time at a shallow depth of 12. km. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake which listed the quake at magnitude 2.8.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Sarmi (pop. 14,100) located 67 km from the epicenter.
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.


Earthquake data:
Date & time: Jul 31, 2026 09:18 pm (GMT +9) local time (31 Jul 2026 12:18 GMT)
Magnitude: 4.5
Depth: 12.00 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 2.44°S / 138.87°E (Kabupaten Sarmi, South Papua, Indonesia)
Primary data source: BMKG
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