Saturday, March 29, 2025
Jakarta, July 24, 2025 — A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck Indonesia’s Minahasa Peninsula in Sulawesi early this morning, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).
The quake occurred at 04:50 AM local time (02:20:44 IST), with its epicenter located at a depth of 130–147 km below the surface. The coordinates of the quake were latitude 0.56°N and longitude 122.04°E.
This is the fourth major earthquake to hit Indonesia in just three months:
July 22: Seram region – Magnitude 5.5
July 7: Tanimbar Islands – Magnitude 6.7
May: Southern Sumatra – Magnitude 5.9
Indonesia lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world’s most seismically active zones. This region is where several tectonic plates, including the Indo-Australian, Eurasian, and Philippine plates, meet and collide.
These interactions cause intense geological stress, especially along the Sunda Trench, triggering frequent earthquakes and sometimes tsunamis.
Two main agencies monitor seismic activity in Indonesia:
BMKG – Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency
InaTEWS – Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning System
People are advised to stay updated via the BMKG website (inatews.bmkg.go.id) or global sources like USGS. No tsunami warning has been issued so far.
December 26, 2004: A 9.1 magnitude quake struck off Sumatra, triggering a tsunami that killed over 170,000 people in Indonesia.
September 28, 2018: A 7.5 magnitude quake hit Sulawesi, followed by a tsunami that killed over 2,000 people and displaced nearly 200,000.
