FirstAlerts

USGS Review Leaves Indonesia Earthquake Magnitude at 7.7

The United States Geological Survey has completed its review of the August 14 earthquake northwest of Ende, Indonesia, and lists the magnitude as 7.7 — the same figure recorded in its initial reporting.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 15, 2026, 10:26 a.m. ET
Developing

Earthquake records are revised. Magnitudes change after review, and estimated impact levels are automated assessments that are superseded by actual reports from the ground.

More on this incident

has moved its magnitude figure for the August 14, 2026 near Ende, Indonesia, from a preliminary value to a one. The magnitude, according to the survey's event record, is — unchanged from the first recorded in the hours after the event. Magnitude values are revised as more seismic data is processed, and a change in status from preliminary to reflects that process rather than a correction of an error. In this case the review did not alter the number. The survey's record places the at , at a depth of km, a depth band, with an origin time of 21:58 UTC on August 14, 2026. The record does not carry a flag for tsunami evaluation. No casualty or damage information appears in the survey's record.

Was this report accurate and useful?

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 115 Aug 2026, 14:01current

    First published.

  2. Version 115 Aug 2026, 14:26current

    First published.

How we work

This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble — all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.

Reports are built from primary sources — accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements — and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.

Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld — a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them — and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.

None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.