A preliminary magnitude 7.8 earthquake has struck off the coast of Indonesia, prompting a tsunami warning, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The quake occurred in the Molucca Sea, near Maju Island, at 04:18:15 local time (UTC+05:30) on 2 April 2026. Its epicentre was located about 119 km west-northwest of Ternate, at a depth of 10 km.
Shallow earthquakes of this kind are often associated with stronger ground shaking and a higher risk of damage. Indonesia, having a population of over 280 million people, lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a region prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity due to the movement of tectonic plates.
Initial videos from North Sulawesi showed a severely damaged sports building in the region.
JUST IN: Sports building severely damaged in North Sulawesi, Indonesia amid powerful earthquake; casualties unclear. pic.twitter.com/EwOYkZaa50
— AZ Intel (@AZ_Intel_) April 1, 2026
In 2022, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake at least 602 people in West Java’s Cianjur city, the deadliest one in Indonesia since a 2018 quake and tsunami in Sulawesi killed more than 4,300 people.
In 2004, an extremely powerful Indian Ocean quake set off a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia’s Aceh province.
This is a Developing Story and will be updated soon
