August 24, 2026 | 09:04 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Several posts on Facebook [archived] and TikTok link an earthquake in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) to an eruption of Mount Ibu in West Halmahera Regency, North Maluku, Indonesia.
Mount Ibu is alleged to have spewed a volcanic ash column five kilometers high, followed by an earthquake in NTT on August 15, 2026. "Mount Ibu erupted, sending an ash column 5 km high over Halmahera. Shortly after, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake shook Flores, triggering a tsunami warning," the narrative in the content states.
This post circulated following the magnitude 7.7 earthquake in NTT, which claimed at least 70 lives and injured 199 people. Was the earthquake in NTT triggered by, or linked to, the eruption of Mount Ibu?
FACT CHECK
Tempo verified the content using credible sources and interviews with volcanology experts. In fact, Mount Ibu erupted 1,375 times throughout 2026. The volcano's periodic eruptions did not trigger or have any connection to the earthquake in NTT on August 15, 2026.
Mount Ibu Eruptions Throughout 2026
Volcanic activity at Mount Ibu surged starting in 2024, reaching the "Warning" (Level IV) status on May 16, 2024. At that time, the crater spewed an eruption column five kilometers high and ejected incandescent lava up to 1.5 km away. The Geological Agency subsequently downgraded the status to "Alert" (Level III) on January 28, 2025, and then to "Advisory" (Level II) starting May 1, 2025, as eruption intensity decreased.
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources' Magma webpage records that Mount Ibu erupted 1,375 times between January and August 21, 2026. This eruption count ranks second highest nationally, trailing only Mount Semeru.
Throughout August 2026, Mount Ibu erupted daily. On August 15—the day the NTT earthquake occurred—Mount Ibu erupted seven times, with ash columns reaching heights of 400 to 800 meters, rather than the five kilometers claimed on social media.
No Link Between Mount Ibu Eruption and NTT Earthquake
Heri Andreas, Head of the Geodesy Laboratory at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), emphasized that there is no theoretical link between the eruption of Mount Ibu and the NTT earthquake. The occurrence of these two events on the same day was purely coincidental.
Heri explained that earthquakes can indeed influence or be linked to volcanic activity if both are situated along the same tectonic plate alignment (fore-arc to back-arc) via a stress transfer mechanism.
"However, such a stress transfer mechanism is impossible between Mount Ibu and the NTT [earthquake] given the vast distance separating them," Heri told Tempo by phone on Thursday, August 20, 2026.
The BMKG confirmed that the NTT earthquake was triggered by movement along the Flores Back-Arc Thrust fault. The epicenter was located in the Flores Sea, 30 kilometers northeast of Nagekeo, at a shallow depth of 15 kilometers.
This active fault stretches from the waters north of Bali, along the Nusa Tenggara islands, to Wetar in Maluku. Flores's close proximity to the active fault, combined with the earthquake's shallow depth, resulted in highly destructive shaking.
CONCLUSION
Tempo's verification concludes that the narrative linking the M7.7 earthquake in NTT to the eruption of Mount Ibu in North Maluku is misleading.
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