M5.1 earthquake near Sanana, North Maluku

What happened

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck 229 km WNW of Ambon, Indonesia on 18 Jul 2016, 21:16 UTC at a depth of 35 km.

Earthquakes of this size are classed as Moderate. Can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre. This was a shallow earthquake, which tends to be felt more strongly at the surface.

The nearest town in our records is Sanana, about 79 km away in North Maluku, Indonesia.