Indonesia earthquake today: 7.4 magnitude quake near Ternate triggers tsunami warnings in Southeast Asia

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck the Northern Maluku Sea off Ternate on Thursday, April 2, (local time) the United States Geological Survey said, triggering tsunami warnings for parts of Indonesia and raising alerts across neighboring Southeast Asian nations.

The quake, initially recorded at magnitude 7.8, hit in the Molucca Sea near the centre of the Indonesian archipelago, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported, prompting “tsunami alerts” for nearby nations, according to BBC.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, though the agency reported aftershocks of magnitude as high as 5, and Indonesia issued tsunami warnings for coastal areas in its provinces of North Maluku and North Sulawesi, reports South China Morning Post.


Regional governments in some cities, such as Ternate and Tidore, historically known as spice islands, were urged to prepare citizens for possible evacuation, as per the outlet.

The earthquake’s epicentre was located about 120 km from Ternate, which has a population of more than 200,000, the agency said. Nearby populated areas that could potentially feel the tremors include Bitung, Sofifi, Tondano, and Manado, all located roughly 125 km to 170 km from the epicentre.

The quake occurred in a seismically active region shaped by the complex interaction between the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate. The boundary stretches more than 4,000 km along the northern margin of the Australian plate, where subduction and microplate interactions frequently generate strong earthquakes.

As per USGS, seismic activity in this zone is dominated by subduction tectonics, and large earthquakes are common. Historical records show multiple earthquakes above magnitude 7.5 in the broader New Guinea region since 1900. A major magnitude 8.1 event in 2007 along the South Solomon trench generated a tsunami and caused casualties, highlighting the region’s potential for destructive seismic events.

Large earthquakes in eastern Indonesia occur frequently, though interplate megathrust events are relatively rare. The biggest recorded event in the broader region was the 1938 Banda Sea earthquake, measured at magnitude 8.5, which occurred at intermediate depth and caused limited loss of life.