Significant 5.4 quake hits near Tobelo, North Halmahera Regency, North Maluku, Indonesia

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported a magnitude 5.4 quake in Indonesia near Tobelo, North Halmahera Regency, North Maluku, only 7 minutes ago. The earthquake hit early morning on Saturday, March 7th, 2026, at 2:55 am local time at a shallow depth of 10. km. 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 German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) which listed the quake at magnitude 5.4 as well.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Tobelo (pop. 34,200) located 80 km from the epicenter, Daruba (pop. 23,600) 83 km away, Maba (pop. 12,600) 87 km away, and Galela (pop. 8,800) 107 km away.
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: Mar 6, 2026 05:56 pm (Universal Time) local time (6 Mar 2026 17:56 GMT)
Magnitude: 5.4
Depth: 57.00 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 1.39°N / 128.57°E (East Halmahera Regency, North Maluku, Indonesia)
Primary data source: EMSC
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